9 



Pears, peaches, quinces and plums are adapted to this sec- 

 tion, and can be grown here to perfection. Grapes, which 

 ripen tardily in our New England climate, are desirable for 

 family use ; some of the earliest varieties should be culti- 

 vated, and may possibly be raised with profit for the market. 

 Cherries are a luxury, but they add much to the pleasures 

 of home, and no fruit garden is complete without them. 

 Strawberries and the other small fruits are a fixed fact. No 

 town or village in the future but will have them ; even at the 

 present low prices, they are a paying crop. While people 

 in cities, even of moderate means, have learned to use fruit 

 freely as a necessary article of food, it is to be feared that in 

 the country the fruit garden has been too often neglected. 

 This is next in importance to the vegetable garden, and no 

 farmer should fail to furnish his family witli a supply of fruit, 

 from the earliest strawberries to the latest winter apples and 

 pears. It is to be regretted that many varieties of fruit 

 which were formerly raised here in great abundance should 

 have been almost wholly abandoned. For instance, winter 

 pears, very delicious for cooking, were found on many farms 

 almost as plenty as apples ; now the trees are cut away and 

 destroyed ; instead, we see long named exotics, which never 

 can or will fill the places of our former fiivorites. The same 

 will apply to plums and some other fruits. While it may be 

 said that the varieties have deteriorated or the soil become 

 exhausted, or that insects have increased more than formerly, 

 it may be replied that what is worth little, costs us little ; 

 what is worth having is Avorth Avorking for ; that he who be- 

 comes discouraged or fainthearted because of drought, mil- 

 dew, or a few insects, is not deserving of the fruits which a 

 bountiful Providence would bestow upon us. 



There is scarcely a farm in this county but what contains 

 some piece which would well pay for underdraining ; some 

 unsightl}^ hollow, some damp meadow, usually the best and 

 most productive land on the farm, if properly underdrained. 

 Have you who raise strawberries for the market ever tried 



