418 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



culture of choice varieties of apples, pears, and peaches, and 

 that from no other product can equal profit be realized, we con- 

 fidently commend the subject to further attention. For the 

 first time, so far as we are advised, peaches have this year been 

 exported as an article of commerce from the county ; and the 

 product of one of our farmers has amounted to one hundred 

 bushels. Fruit has the advantage of most products in finding 

 a market. The demand is always greater than the supply. 

 Few are furnished with all the fruit they desire ; and an in- 

 creased consumption will tend to the profit and pleasure of the 

 consumer. The product of our orchards this year is unusually 

 good, and the contest for premiums spirited. 



Alexander Hyde, Chairman. 



HOUSATONIC. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Such was the general excellence of the varieties of fruit 

 offered, that it was difficult to make any decision entirely satis- 

 factory even to the committee themselves. The display of 

 fruit was large and tempting. The peaches, in particular, were 

 unusually large and of a delicious flavor. There is no reason, 

 in the opinion of your committee, why Berkshire should not 

 compete, and successfully too, with more southern latitudes in 

 the production of this crop. We trust that the old notion 

 which has too long prevailed, that it is useless to attempt 

 any thing serious in fruit culture, will have soon exploded. It 

 has, in years gone by, been customary for our farmers to stick 

 a peach tree in some forsaken corner where nothing else would 

 grow, and draw from its unproductiveness the inference that 

 the crop in this region must necessarily be a failure. It is well 

 for the interests of agriculture that all crops are not simi- 

 larly treated. 



Francis Eddy, Chairman. 



