88 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



A gentleman of ray acquaintance, who has given his atten- 

 tion to the cultivation of fruit for the last sixty years, tells 

 me that he would sooner have less than more than ten varie- 

 ties, for any purpose either for pleasure or profit. 



For table fruits, we should say the five best would be, 

 Williams Favorite, Gravenstein, Hubbardston Nonsuch, 

 Baldwin and Hunt Russet. I have named them in the order 

 that they are ripe and ready for use. We would gladly add 

 the names of the Hurlburt, Eustis, Drap d'Or, Sweet Baldwin, 

 Ramsdell's Red and Gillyflower, but among the hundreds of 

 varieties to select from we become bewildered, and are quite 

 willing to leave it to each person to select such as suits his or 

 her taste, well knowing that the most fastidious can be suited. 

 All of the varieties I have named are abundant bearers, the 

 Baldwin, Gravenstein, Hunt Russet and Hubbardston Non- 

 such particularly so. 



The Baldwin I have placed at the head of all the varieties. 

 We are free to grant it the title of king of all the apples, for 

 our soil and climate. While the other sorts, some of them, 

 contest the title and vie with it for the honors of royalty, 

 still the Baldwin wears the crown, for productiveness, long- 

 keeping, general uses, and for market. 



While all the apple-trees are alike in one sense, and have 

 the same nature, the ash of the wood and foliage beins; identi- 

 cal, and scarcely differing in the most minute particular, still, 

 like men and animals, each variety seems to have eccentricities 

 and peculiarities of its own. Some, like the maple, lift high 

 their erect and shapely branches. Others, like the oak, 

 spread wide their limbs, and shade the soil for rods around. 

 Others still, are crooked and gnarled, suggestive of sour and 

 crabbed fruit. Some are sleek and smooth of limb, while 

 others wear a rough and scaly coat, but boast of blossoms 

 fair, and luscious fruit. Some have pendulous branches, like 

 the willow, and their fruit hangs swinging with every breeze, 

 and joyfully seems to pass the time from summer to harvest. 

 The fruit-spurs of some are stiff and strong, aud the fruit 

 adheres closely to the branches and remains stationary till 

 suddenly disturbed. All of these different habits or pecul- 

 iarities are so marked and distinct, that the cultivator can 

 easily determine by the tree just what kind of fruit it bears, 



