74 ON FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 



An individual at the exhibition expressed his surprise 

 that the same varieties of apples raised in West Cam- 

 bridge and around Boston, were so much larger than 

 those he was accustomed to see grown in Essex county. 

 The cause is obviously not in the natural quality of their 

 soil, but in their high manuring and more severe pruning. 

 There are farmers in West Cambridge who apply one 

 hundred dollars worth of manure annually to an acre of 

 land. The size, as well as the quality of apples depend 

 more upon the nature of the soil upon which they are 

 grown than is generally supposed ; for while the Bald- 

 win, Roxbury Russet and Yellow Bellflower apples, fruit 

 well upon soil of a light, loamy nature; the Hubbards- 

 ton Nonesuch, Pickman Pippin, Piper, and some other 

 varieties, require that of a deep clayey loam. 



Mr. S. P. Fowler submitted the following resolve : 

 Voted, That the Committee on Fruits and Flowers be 

 requested to furnish for publication in the Society's next 

 annual Report, a list of fruits best adapted for culture in 

 our county, together Vv'ith a few flowering shrubs. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



For the Committee, 



JOHN M. IVES. 



In forming a collection of fruits, it is better to be con- 

 tented with a few good kinds, that produce well in 

 most seasons, than to plant those, for the sake of va- 

 riety, of which perhaps a crop may be obtained once in 

 three or four years ; we should endeavor also to fix 

 upon those which are found to suit our latitude ; many 

 varieties of apples, which are first rate in our southern 

 cities, for example the Newton Pippin andPennock'sWin- 

 ter, are, when grown here, inferior to the Ly scorn. Fall 

 Harvey, and many others. Attention should also be paid 

 to selecting sorts suitable to their destined soils, as some 

 that would succeed well in a strong clay loam, would 

 languish in a poor, light, sandy soil, and others that 

 would ripen to perfection in the enclosed yards of our 



