13 



be a successful rival of other jjarts of the Union in vari- 

 ety and excellence of its fruits. Similar accounts are 

 received from the district of Santa Clara. 



Another communication, from an officer of this Society 

 in California, assures me of the great progress in our 

 cause in that State, and pledges a full report of its Hor- 

 ticultural Exhibition for our Transactions. One of my 

 neighbors who went to California in 1854, and now re- 

 siding in Napa city, whites : " Such is the rapid growth 

 of vegetation in that district, that apple trees, from seed 

 planted in the spring of 1853, and budded the same year, 

 yielded fruit in the autumn of 1855." He says, "I 

 wish you could take a look at our peach orchard, loaded 

 with three to four thousand baskets of fruit. You could 

 hardly believe that the trees had made all their growth, 

 and were most of them raised from seed, since I came 

 to California, February 1, 1854. The crop from this 

 orchard is now (July 18, 1856,) going to market, and 

 we expect will amount to between ten and twenty thou- 

 sand dollars." The proprietor of that crop has called 

 on me within a few days, confirms these statements, and 

 reports that the crop and prices fully realized all antici- 

 pations. 



Such is the zeal now manifested in the cause of Po- 

 mology, and such are the facilities for intercommunica- 

 tion, that we are continually receiving valuable contri- 

 butions from all parts of the country and the world. 



When we consider the progress of the grape culture 

 in the single State of Ohio, and its great increase in 

 other States, amounting now to more than two millions 

 of dollars annually — the immense quantities of peaches 

 and strawberries brought to our markets, the rapid 

 multiplication of the apple, the pear, and other fruits 

 throughout our land, and the millions of trees annually 

 sent out from this vicinity and other parts, it is not easy 



