416 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in this State, but by the introduction of seedling varieties 

 the difficulty was overcome, and there has been little or no 

 complaint in recent years. May we not hope that a second 

 Bresee will give us an Early Rose peach through which the 

 trees may be restored to their pristine vigor, and that we 

 may again grow annually this most productive, most deli- 

 cious and most valuable fruit. 



If peach trees, grape vines, or currant bushes are set 

 with the young apple trees they should produce a paying 

 crop the third year ; if blackberries or raspberries, the sec- 

 ond year, and if strawberries, the first year. When the 

 apple trees have grown so as to shade the ground, a light 

 ploughing in the spring, followed by the occasional use of 

 the harrow or cultivator, will aflbrd all the necessary culti- 

 vation. 



First-class market fruit cannot be grown for any consid- 

 erable time if a close-matted grass turf is allowed to covei 

 the ground above the roots of the trees, unless in exception- 

 ally favorable locations receiving the .wash from buildings, 

 yards or highways. The best success and most profitable 

 results can be secured only when the orchard receives the 

 same intelligent care given to other crops in the cultivation 

 of the ground, in the care of the trees, in their protection 

 from injurious insects, and in gathering and marketing the 

 fruit. 



All the advantages of location and adaptability of soil 

 and climate claimed for the apple may be urged with equal 

 force for the cultivation of the pear. Nowhere is the pear 

 grown with greater ease, with more certainty of a crop, or 

 in greater perfection, than in this State. The past year the 

 pear crop has been unusually large, yet it has never been 

 disposed of more easily or more satisfactorily to both grow- 

 ers and dealers. Besides the demand for home trade, Maine, 

 portions of Canada, New York and Philadelphia have drawn 

 upon the Boston market for a partial supply of this fruit. 

 The establishment of cold-storage houses has materially aided 

 in marketing this fruit, by extending the time when some of 

 the best varieties may be had in condition for the table from 

 two weeks to six or eight weeks. The Bosc, the Sheldon 

 and the Seckel, early October varieties, may be had in per- 



