APPLES AND PEARS. 75 



adapted certainly to Massachusetts, and there are very few- 

 places where they cannot be grown. 



Of the apple, I might say that there are some new varieties 

 which are coming in which will probably prove quite valuable 

 and useful in Massachusetts. I allude, in particular, to the 

 Tompkins County King, which I have no reason to think will 

 not do as well in other places as in Dorchester, my own home. 

 It is a large, fair, handsome red apple, and red is the color 

 which commands the price. It is as handsome as the Baldwin, 

 and the Baldwin is everywhere popular. It is a singular fact 

 that the three most popular Eastern apples — the Baldwin, Rox- 

 bury Russet and Rhode Island Greening — are the three most 

 popular apples at the West, where they grow so many millions 

 of bushels. At many of the "Western Fruit Conventions, votes 

 have been taken as to what were the best varieties, and they 

 have always resulted in favor of the Baldwin, the Rhode Island 

 Greening and the Roxbury Russet. To these I think I may 

 add, as one of the standard winter fruits, the Tompkins County 

 King. I will not say more of the apple. 



As to the pear, we have certainly had very great success in 

 Massachusetts in the cultivation of this fruit, and our soils are 

 not of the most congenial character for the culture of the, 

 pear ; yet, with the indomitable perseverance, pride and compe- 

 tition of our cultivators, as the orator has said, near Boston, 

 where the pear is cultivated more extensively than in any other 

 place in the United States, we succeed in producing as fine 

 pears as are grown anywhere. I had the pleasure, during a 

 visit abroad last year, of seeing the largest and best gardens 

 and nurseries in Europe, and I came home exceedingly grati- 

 fied by the fact that I saw no cultivation anywhere, and no 

 fruits anywhere, which were superior to our own. 



Of the varieties of the pear alluded to this evening, the Bcurr^ 

 d'Anjou, as is well known to a great many gentlemen present, 

 is my favorite. I mean, that of the thousand varieties which I 

 have proved by my own personal inspection, the Beurre d'Anjou 

 stands first on the list. So excellent is it, that I have increased 

 the number of my trees until I possess now more than four 

 hundred. I have no difficulty at all in selling my crop. I 

 have just sent away the last of them to New York, at twenty- 

 five dollars a barrel. It seems to be as hardy, to use a commoii. 



