196 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Lawtons. This berry was not profitable, not being hardy 

 although a rampant grower, as my father said it cost him $5 to 

 get it into the garden and $50 to get it out. Similar experience 

 about the same time made the cultivation of blackberries unpopu- 

 lar in the farmer's garden. We now have several hardy varie- 

 ties of good quality which do not sucker as badly as the old 

 Lawton, and any farmer can easily supply his family with this 

 fruit with little outlay for plants and labor. The season of some 

 varieties lasts two months. 



About the beginning of the blackberry season our pickers are 

 noticed eating apples, pears, peaches and plums. Doubtless they 

 produce some pangs, but the act reminds that the season of 

 such fruits is about at hand. 



Pears may be had from the middle of July to the middle of 

 January, but are not very valuable on either end. A good 

 hungry family can keep the product of a dozen or twenty trees 

 from going to waste. 



The peach season only lasts about two -n^onths, but what a 

 "hog" a man can make of himself during those two months ; 

 there is practically no limit to his capacity. Dr. Smith would 

 probably recommend the crop from one tree each week for each 

 member of the family, or eight to ten times as many trees as 

 members. 



Of plums there are an untold number of varieties, in fact a 

 great number of families or groups of varieties, but only a 

 few of them do well here. Most of the Domesticas rot and knot 

 so badly the average farmer does not care to bother with them, 

 although in quality they are among the best. 



The Japanese vary from good to indifferent and positively 

 bad, but all things considered are the most satisfactory plums 

 for the Connecticut farmer to supply his family. 



The Americana are hardy and useful, but small and mostly 

 quite acid at the pit. 



There are many gentlemen at work crossing these two last 

 named species and the results, we hope, will prove better than 

 either parent. 



The apple we may have for twelve months if we choose, but 

 kept in our cellar they have 'never proved popular in straw- 

 berry time, but from early August to May we can eat a number 

 of good apples. No one cares for more than one tree of a 



