262 REMARKS ON FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. 



The President remarked, he was of the same opinion as Ma- 

 joi' Wheeler, that extreme cold weather killed the huds. His 

 psaches were planted upon a dry, gravelly soil, with a northerly 

 exposure, and the buds were nearly all killed. Many of the 

 cherry blossoms were also destroyed. The winter has been a 

 remarkably cold one. (It was suggested by a gentleman pres- 

 ent that we had quite warm weather in December, which was 

 succeeded by severe cold.) 



Major Wheeler remarked, that, four or five years since, we 

 had very warm weather in February, so much so that the peach 

 blossom opened on the 10th of March. After that time, we had 

 severe, cold, and heavy snow storms, and still the peach bore 

 most abundantly that year. 



Mr. Samuel Walker, of Roxbury, (President of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society) thought, that the subject of ma- 

 nure and transplanting was of great importance. The first 

 thing to be done, in transplanting, was, to properly prepare the 

 soil, by trenching, incorporating the loam with the subsoil, and 

 supplying the appropriate manure. There was no necessity for 

 special matiiires until the powers of the soil had bee?i exhausted. 



Regard must also be had to the kind of soil, its location on 

 high or low land, its exposure, &c. Mr. Walker would admit, 

 that peaches grow best on high lands. The trees must be adapt- 

 ed to the soil, and the fruit must be selected with a view \o 

 the market which is to be supplied. Mr. Walker thought, that 

 fruit-growers make a great mistake, in multiplying varieties ; 

 this would do well enough for amateurs, but it was very un- 

 profitable business for the farmer. He proceeded to speak of 

 the varieties of the apple, which he thought it most profitable 

 for the farmer to cultivate. First, was the Rhode Island 

 Greening, a good second-rate fruit, which adapts itself readily 

 to most soils, and is in good order for the table, from November to 

 April. It was, by no means, the best apple that could be named, 

 but its combined qualities rendered it exceedingly valuable 

 for cultivation in this state. Then comes the Gravenstein. 

 in good order for cooking and eating, as early as the month of 



