38 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of Fruits," can be ever at hand? What greater attraction can there 

 be than a New England home surrounded by a thrift}-, well selected 

 fruit orchard? I would not advise any person that has not a natural 

 taste for fruit raising to undertake it extensively, although for one 

 having a taste in this direction it is our most profitable crop. Still 

 everyone owning an acre of land in Maine should raise fruit enough 

 for his own famil}-. What will add more to the comfort and enjoy- 

 ment of our long winter evenings than the ever present dish of fruit, 

 raised b}^ our own hands, upon our own farms ? Who of common 

 capacity but can have thrifty fruit trees enough to adorn his 

 grounds and fruit enough of his own raising to grace his table at all 

 seasons of the year? 



THE NURSERY BUSINESS. 



A paper specially contributed for this meeting, 

 By John J. Thomas, of New York. 



The business of raising and selling young fruit trees is in one 

 respect unlike other commercial business, on account of the time 

 required to prove them in bearing. Most kinds of goods may be 

 examined on the spot and their good or bad quality at once deter- 

 mined by inspection. ' None but men of long experience can recognize 

 a variety' of fruit till they have seen the ripened specimens. For this 

 reason more care is required by the nurseryman to secure the sorts he 

 propagates true to name ; and more care must be exercised by the 

 purchaser in procuring his young trees from trustworthy and reliable 

 sources. 



For the same reason, there is more opportunity to conceal frauds 

 from the great majority- of purchasers, who do not recognize by 

 sight in the growth of young trees what they are. Fort}' years ago most 

 of the nurseries were full of errors. Sufficient care had not been taken 

 to obtain the genuine sorts from which to propagate, and many were 

 ignorantly but honestly unaware of the harm they were doing in 

 disseminating poor sorts. When the writer of these remarks com- 

 menced the nursery business, so abundant were these errors that he 

 adopted and never deviated from the rule of propagating nothing 

 lor sale which he had not proved or seen in bearing. 



At the present time the l)cst nurseries and tliose whicli have an 

 established reputation have reached much accuracy in this resi)ect, 



