1»V 



To the Editor nf "The American Journal of Horticuhure and Florist's Companion." 



Sir, — Can the hardy fruits be most successfully cultivated and produced in 

 the greatest perfection in Europe, that is, in England, the northerly parts of 

 France, Belgium, and portions of Germany, or in the north-eastern parts of the 

 United States, — taking Massachusetts, lying under a somewhat similar latitude 

 as the part of Europe above referred to, and also as being, in respect to soil and 

 climate, fully an average, if not above, the other New-England States, as repre- 

 senting them, — is a question sometimes discussed. Arid occasionally a sugges- 

 tion has been made, that the disappointment experienced by American fruit- 

 growers, on finding that new varieties of fruit imported from Europe prove, on 

 trial, worthless, may arise from the effects of a change of soil and climate, with- 

 out being necessarily the result of fraud and deception on the part of the pro- 

 ducers of these varieties. As these are questions of some interest, and, in one 

 respect, not wholly without importance, I venture to give you my views con- 

 cerning them. 



As I do not remember of ever tasting in Europe the varieties that have 

 caused the disappointment in America referred to, upon the suggestion above 

 alluded to I have nothing to say, possessing no facts that would have any 

 bearing upon the subject, unless the remarks that I may make upon the ques- 

 tion first above stated may incidentally have some reference to it. 



The general opinion among cultivators in Massachusetts, so far as I have 

 heard it expressed, is, I think, that the various kinds of hardy fruits — unless it 

 may be grapes — can be as successfully cultivated, and brought to as great per- 

 fection, in Massachusetts as in Europe, if not more so. As some considerations 



VOL. V. s 33 



