54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



« 



houses, artificially heated, where even the richest fruits of the 

 tropics are made to flourish. While such structures may not 

 always pay in dollars and cents, they are a great source of sat- 

 isfaction to the owner, as well as to many others. But our aim 

 is, to discuss, at the present time, the hardy fruits, such as we 

 all can raise, by ordinary skill and enterprise. 



Among the most useful of all our fruits stands the apple. It 

 does seem too had that Massachusetts should be obliged to pay 

 thousands of dollars annually to other States for apples, when 

 we have, perhaps, thousands of acres well adapted to the culti- 

 vation of this fruit. It is doubtful if apples can be raised near 

 the large cities, where land is worth a high price, and pay as 

 well as the smaller fruits. But back in the country, where good 

 land suitable for orchards can be obtained for fifty or one hun- 

 dred dollars per acre, convenient to railroads and other means 

 of transportation, this fruit can be profitably raised. 



If the farmer in Western New York can grow this fruit to a 

 profit /2;e hundred miles from the market, cannot we do it, who 

 are only fifty or possibly a hundred miles away ? Complaint, 

 In years past, has been made, that when the crop was abundant, 

 prices ruled low ; but this has not been true for the last few 

 years, and we predict will not be again for a long time to come. 

 In proof of which, we refer to the prices obtained this year, 

 when the fruit crop throughout the State is nearly up to the 

 average — three to five dollars a barrel for apples, twenty to 

 thirty cents a gallon for cider, have been the rates demanded in 

 the cities. Surely these are remunerative prices! But sup- 

 pose, in years of great plenty, prices should rule low, is it 

 not so with every crop? Shall we cease to grow wheat or 

 corn because, in some seasons, the prices fail to meet our 

 expectations ? 



The apple can be used in so many ways that it has become 

 indispensable in every household. No fruit enters so much 

 into cookery as this, while it is generally relished in a raw 

 state. Some of us may prefer for the dessert a melting Seckel, 

 Doyenn(3 du Cornice, or Dana's Hovey pear, but would not wish 

 to dispense with the apple for pies, puddings, sauces, jelly, &c., 

 to which we are so accustomed. 



No portion of this crop is lost, for the apples that are too poor 

 for other uses may be made into cider, to be drank, if one needs 



