276 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



of the number of persons in the United States who 

 are now engaged in the growth of fruits. Should 

 each one produce one good variety, a not impos- 

 sible thing, we should have varieties enough to en- 

 dure for centuries, adapted to every soil and loca- 

 tion in our vast territory. 



Let any one visit the nurseries established by Mr. 

 Clapp, in Massachusetts, the originator of the 

 Clapp's Favorite pear, and see the many seedling 

 trees now just coming into bearing, and he cannot 

 but be delighted, as we have been, with witnessing 

 the trees in their youthful vigor, and studying the 

 various forms into which the Bartlett, the Flemish 

 Beauty, the Beurre d'Anjou, the Urbaniste, the 

 Beurro Clairgeau, the Beurre Bosc, and other 

 standard varieties have been changed, and he can- 

 not but admit that the daily opportunity for such 

 study would be an ample recompense for all the 

 trouble and expense of raising such trees. But be- 

 sides this gratification, is the probability of raising 

 a new variety, which, in one point or another, shall 

 be superior to any before acquired, and which shall 

 be a blessing to the nation. Does any one object, 

 that fruits adapted to cultivation through the 

 country are few and lar between ? Let him raise a 

 variety which shall be better adapted to his own 

 locality than any before known. Let us have Fa- 

 vorites for Virginia and Georgia, and for all and 

 every State in our nation. If I could feel that I 

 had been the means of inducing our members, or 

 other cultivators, to raise new fruits worthy to bear 

 their names, I should feel that I had lived for a 

 useful purpose. 



The importance of producing new varieties from 

 seed is no longer ciuestioned. The fact, that the 

 seed of good varieties will generally produce good 

 oflspring, is now well established. These are, 

 however, the natural results which have been de- 

 rived from fruits already improved ; and we can 

 offer no better proofs of the advantages of artificial 

 impregnation than the multitude of improved va- 

 rieties which have been produced in the vegetable 

 kingdom by this process. 



We have learned many of the laws which govern 

 hybridization, and the more we become acquaint- 

 ed with this most interesting art, the more we work 

 with Nature in these efforts for her improvement, 

 the more we shall admire this most perfect and 

 beautiful illustration of the great fundamental law, 

 which has been established from the beginning of 

 time, for the improvement of men, animals and 

 plants. Well did Linnseus exclaim when over- 

 whelmed with the discovery of an unknown prin- 

 ciple in this most interesting study, " I have seen 

 God passing by," and well may the contemplation 

 of this law inspire us with the same reverence and 

 delight, and, 



"like coDdnctore, raise 

 Our gpiritg upward on tlieir flight sublime 

 "Up to the dread Invisible, to pour 

 Our grateful homage out in silent praise." 



Let us go on then developing the wonderful re- 

 sources of this art. Go on, persevere, and you will 

 leave a rich inheritance for your heirs. Go on, and 

 the time will come when every man shall sit under 

 his vine and fruit-tree, when all our hillsides shall 

 rejoice in the burden of the vintage, our valleys 

 teem with the golden fruits of the orchard, and the 

 passing breeze become vocal with songs of grati- 

 tude and praise for these benefactions to posterity. 



The increasing interest in the cultivation of fruit 

 at the South induces me to offer a few suggestions 

 in regard to the best means of obtaining varieties 



suited to that region. Of apples and peaches a 

 large number of superior varieties have already 

 been produced at the South perfectly adapted to the 

 climate ; but the supply of fine varieties the past 

 year is inadequate, especially of late-keeping va- 

 rieties, as the latest kinds grown at the North can- 

 not, when grown in the Gulf States, be preserved 

 beyond autumn. To supply this deficiency, we 

 would recommend the trial of such varieties as re- 

 fuse to ripen at the North, — Chaumontelle, the Col- 

 mar and its sub-varieties, Beurre Ranee Bergamot 

 Fortunee — which appear to need a longer season 

 than ours to arrive at maturity. These and seedlings 

 offers, we think, the best prospect for a supply of 

 late pears in the warmer parts of our country. We 

 would also recommend a trial of the sorts used at 

 the North for cooking, as some of these have prov- 

 en fine dessert pears in the South. And probably 

 some of the fine old varieties which have decayed 

 in the East, and show signs of the same fate at the 

 West, may, in more genial climates, have their ex- 

 istence so far prolonged as to be among the most 



desirable. 



****** 



THE mCREASIHG IMPOKTANCE OF FRUIT CULTURE. 



The importance and value of our calling in de- 

 veloping the resources of our country, in the occu- 

 pation of unimproved lands, adorning our himie- 

 steads, enhancing the value of real estate, multi- 

 plying the blessings and comforts of life, and pro- 

 moting a great source of national wealth, cannot 

 be too highly appreciated. The more I reflect upon 

 the progress we have made, the more am I con- 

 firmed in the belief that this branch of culture will 

 ere long become second only to the growth of the 

 bread and meat of our country. The enormous 

 production of strawberries and other small fruits, 

 the millions upon millions of baskets of peaches, — 

 not to speak of the apples and pears and other 

 fruits that are now annually produced, — give prom- 

 ise that the time is fast approaching when all 

 classes of society may enjoy this health-preserving 

 condiment as a portion of their daily bread. Nor 

 can I refrain from referring once more to the be- 

 nign influence which our employment has upon the 

 moral and religious instincts of the heart, the refine- 

 ment of taste and the welfare of society. What- 

 ever pleasure may be derived from other pursuits, 

 there is surely none that has afforded stronger evi- 

 dence of a high and progressive state of civiliza- 

 tion or a more ennobling influence, than the cul- 

 ture of fruits. "This," says General Dearborn, 

 " must have been the first step in the march of 

 civilization, while the method of ameliorating their 

 character and multiplying their varieties may be 

 considered as taking precedence of all human ef- 

 forts in the industrial arts." 



From the day when God gave our father in Eden 

 trees, " pleasant to the sight and good for food," 

 down to Solomon, who said, " I made me gardens 

 and orchards, and I planted in them all kinds of 

 fruits," and through the successive generations of 

 men, the cultivation of trees and plants has been 

 the criterion of taste and refinement. No object of 

 attachment is more naturally allied to the instincts 

 of the soul, and truly did Emerson remark, " he 

 who knows the most, he who knows what sweets 

 and virtues are in the ground, and how to come at 

 these enchantments, is the rich and royal man." 

 And what greater benefactions can you leave to 

 posterity than these memorials which shall live and 

 grow, which shall tell of your love of the most 



