THE 



AMERICAN FRUIT CULTURIST. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



THE rapid extension of the culture of fruit throughout the country 

 at large calls for the latest information on the subject, and sug- 

 gests a still further revision of this work, now in its nineteenth 

 edition. 



The climate and soil of our country afford unequalled facilities 

 for fruit culture, both in gardens and in market orchards. A rich 

 treasure lies within our reach in the profusion of delicious sorts 

 which successive months of the year may be made to supply. 

 Advantage has already been taken of these facilities, extensive 

 orchards have been planted in the different States, and vast crops 

 are annually produced. Within a few years the foreign markets 

 have taken from this country, in one season, between one and two 

 million barrels of apples and three thousand tons of evaporated 

 fruit. The horticultural productions of the Mississippi Valley, 

 consisting mainly of fruit, J^ave been estimated at an annual value 

 of one hundred million dollars, while more limited regions give 

 corresponding returns. The Illinois Central Railway carried over 

 four thousand tons of apples into the city of Chicago, besides two 

 thousand tons of strawberries, the product of a single season. The 

 Michigan Central conveyed fifteen thousand packages of peaches 

 in a day. The city of Boston received from Norfolk, Va., during 

 one year, sixteen thousand bushels of strawberries, and from plan- 

 tations nearer home ten thousand bushels more. A single county 



