STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Ql 



beaming from the darkness in many places?, which will increase, and 

 eventually break forth into the full blaze of day. 



J. W. LAN^G. 



[Not having received the reports which were expected from 

 the Trustees in the other counties, and it being impossible to 

 make any further delay in the preparation of this part of the 

 work, the Secretary avails himself of the following articles 

 selected from the newspapers of the State in the autumn of 

 1877, giving a general review of the condition and prospects 

 of fruit growing in the State.] 



THE APPLE. 



What wheat is among the cereals, it seems to us, the apple is among 

 the fruits — the most important, the most useful, the most indispensable. 

 Commercially, it is one of the most important products of the temperate 

 zone, and from the ease with which it is grown, the period of time which it 

 covers — compassing in the season of its usefulness almost the entire year 

 in its green state, while the market is never without the dried product — 

 and the ease with which it may be transpoi'ted from one section of the 

 country to another, it, more than any other fruit, contributes to the real 

 wants of the human family, while adding largely to the commercial in- 

 terests of the country. 



When we experience, as we are doing this year, an almost utter failui'e 

 of this important crop throughout New England, we are led to realize to 

 a far greater extent than we could ever do in years of an abundant yield 

 of apples, how great a loss it is to be deprived of them, and how useful a 

 part they contribute in the household economjr. To be deprived of them 

 is to suft'er the loss of one of the most essential elements of good living — 

 a loss which nothing can i-eally make up. They form an economical and 

 very healthy article of diet ; and when to be had at a cheap rate, furnish 

 a means of subsistence that is unrivaled for economy and healthfulness. 

 They require but little sweetening to make a good sauce ; are excellent 

 for pies ; esteemed a luxury when baked, with the addition of a little 

 sugar ; and as a desert, or for the use of children at "'all hours of the day," 

 nothing can take their place. In short, the apple is the fruit for the peo- 

 ple, and one never tires of green apples, apple pie, or apple sauce, any 

 sooner than we tire of flour bread or biscuit and butter. It is true, we 

 have the cranberry ; but the cranberry is essentially an aristocratic fruit, 

 requiring a large amount of sugar to render it palatable— and then we 

 have all forms of canned fruits ; but these in no way make up for the loss 

 of the apple, and are not consumed to any great degree in its stead. 



Throughout our State, and generally throughout New England, the 

 apple crop this year is very nearly a comxjlete failure. For this there are 



