62 HORTICULTURE. 



one in Delaware. There is no apple orchard in Germany or north- 

 ern Europe, a single crop of which has yielded $12,000, like that 

 of Pelham farm on the Hudson. And these, though unusual ex- 

 amples of orchard cultivation by single proprietors, are mere frac- 

 tions of the aggregate value of the products of the orchards, in all 

 the northern States. The dried fruits apples and peaches alone, of 

 western New -York, amount in value to very large sums annually. 

 And, if we judge of what we hear, orchard culture, especially of 

 the finer market fruits, has only just commenced. 



We doubt if, at any horticultural assemblage that ever con- 

 vened in Europe, there has been the same amount of practical 

 knowledge of pomology brought together as at the congress of fruit- 

 growers, last October, in New- York. An intelligent nurseryman, who 

 has just returned from a horticultural tour through Great Britain, 

 assures us, that at the present moment that country is astonishingly 

 behind us, both in interest in, and knowledge of fruits. This he 

 partly explains by the fact, that only half a dozen sorts of each fruit 

 are usually grown in England, where we grow twenty or thirty ; 

 but mainly by the inferiority of their climate, which makes the cul- 

 ture of pears, peaches, &c., without walls, an impossibility, except in 

 rare cases. Again, the fact that in this country, there are so many 

 landholders of intelligence among all classes of society all busy in 

 improving their places whether they consist of a rood or a mile 

 square causes the interest in fine fruits to become so multiplied, 

 that it assumes an importance here that is not dreamed of for it, on 

 the other side of the water. 



With this wide-spread interest, and the numberless experiments 

 that large practice will beget, we trust we shall very soon see good 

 results in the production of best native varieties of the finer fruits. 

 Almost every experienced American horticulturist has become 

 convinced that we shall never fairly " touch bottom," or rest on a 

 solid foundation, till we get a good assortment of first-rate pears, 

 grapes, &c., raised from seeds in this country ; sorts with sound con 

 stitutions, adapted to our climate and soil. With great respect for 

 the unwearied labors of Van Mons, and others who have followed 

 his plan of obtaining varieties, we have not the least faith in the 

 vital powers of varieties so originated. They will, in the end, be 



