AGRICULTURE. 11 



may not be successfully grown by making careful se- 

 lection of soil and varieties, and taking such as are 

 naturally profuse bearers on the mainland and are 

 hardy and of vigorous habits of growth. 



"From my observation I believe quinces may be 

 grown here as profitably as apples, perhaps pears even, 

 on the mainland, our moist soils and climate seem- 

 ing to suit them. They are esteemed quite a luxury 

 and command good prices usually, and the supply does 

 not keep pace with the demand. Here is another 

 opening for enterprise and skill in the way of fruit- 

 growing. I think also if more attention was paid to 

 forestry we could do something in that line, and that 

 by experiment we should find several varieties of trees 

 valuable for fuel or timber which would flourish here. 

 I heard an old gentleman say within a few days that 

 he had a record of quite a heavy growth of oak tim- 

 ber near where Hon. Charles O'Conor's house now 

 stands.* Tradition has it that many of our oldest 

 buildings were framed with native timber, notably the 

 ' Old Windmill ' now standing, whose timbers give 

 evidence that it was of good growth." (See page 236.) 



* Wm. C. Folger, Esq., says: "Macy's records, speaking of 

 the George Gardner house, which stood on the North Shore hill 

 where the Hamblin barn now stands, which house was built in 

 1696 and taken down in 1838, say that ' the large timbers of it 

 were mostly oak, and believed to have been cut on the island 

 between said house and the cliff, as that was a place remarked 

 for a good growth of white-oak trees/ " See p. 62. 



