"The fact is well established, that the fruits which succeed best in particular localities are those which originate there, or in others slightly different. I believe the Baldwin, Hubbardson's Nonsuch, and Porter apples, are nowhere quite so good as in New England. The Newtown Pippin, Swaar, Esopus, Spitzenburg, and Northern Spy, are scarcely anywhere so good as in New York. Our northern apples are of little value in the south, and the very finest southern apples are utterly worthless in the north. The reason why those seedling fruits obtained in certain localities are more successful there than elsewhere, cannot be that the climate and soil exercise such an influence upon the seed or the seedling, but because, when the seedlings show fruit, those only are preserved which possess qualities that are desirable there. The R. I. Greening would not have been preserved in Georgia, nor the Rawles Janet in Massachusetts. The true way to advance in this matter will be for the cultivators of each district to sow the seeds of those varieties which succeed best, or which possess the most important qualities.

Every successive generation will be more and more acclimated, and thus, in time, fruits will be obtained capable of resisting all the changes and severities of climate, and peculiarities of soil.

"In the hurry of our first planting, this experimental culture has been neglected, but it is now high time that it should be taken up in earnest. It may be said that our varieties are already numerous enough, and so they are; indeed, we have far too many, but who will say that even the best are good enough, or that improvement is not necessary or desirable? No, indeed; the work of improvement has scarcely begun.

"The reform which has, within a very few years, been effected in the nomenclature of fruits, is not the least important part of our progress. What a labyrinth of error and confusion the names of fruits were in, some dozen years ago. Not more than seven years ago, fall one-half of all the fruits exhibited were incorrectly named, or not named at all. The specimen trees which we collected between 1839 and 1848, were full one-half ineorrect, and they were obtained from the most reliable sources then in existence. Of thirty or forty specimen peach-trees from one establishment, scarcely one proved true to name.

"In the course of my business as nurseryman, and during my connection with horticultural journals, I have often been surprised, of late, at the number of persons who are particular and discriminating.

"One man writes, on reception of some trees he has purchased, such and such a variety has dark shoots - the books say they ought to be light. Another says the habit, or the foliage, or the flowers, of his trees do not answer the description. A third says his strawberries are staminate - they ought to be pistillate; and so on. These are all indications of that spirit of inquiry and observation which is a sure presage of intelligent and successful culture. The time has come when nurserymen must be observing and accurate, or they will lose their business character and customers both. They must plant specimen orchards, test and compare their varieties, read and study, attend exhibitions and meetings, such as this, and by these means acquire such knowledge of their profession as will enable them to prosecute it successfully and honorably. The facilities which dwarf trees now offer for testing a large collection rapidly, on a small plat of ground, and at a moderate expense, leave no excuse whatever for the neglect of this work.

"The cultivation and management of trees in orchards and gardens are improving rapidly, but much yet remains to be done before we attain even mediocrity. The loss which the United States sustain annually in the careless and unskilful planting and management of trees, if accurately summed up, would be almost incredible.

"At the Fruit Growers' Meeting in Western New York, a few days ago, the question was raised: What becomes of all the trees that are propagated and sold in the nurseries of that section?

"The opinion of the meeting, as expressed in the discussion, was, that although many trees were lost and worthless from defective or improper treatment in the nursery, and many from damage sustained in transportation, yet more were lost by unskilful planting, and neglect afterwards, than from any and all other causes combined.

"This I believe to be the case. In all my observations of travel, I think I can safely say that I have not seen one orchard or one garden in a hundred even tolerably managed. By far the greater number look as though the proprietor had abandoned his trees to ruin.

"Blown over to one side, anchored in a tough grass sod, buried up in groves of cornstalks, torn and broken by cattle, barked and bruised with the plough, pruned with an axe - thus they perish in their youth, or become old, deformed, covered with lichens, and a prey to swarms of insects, before they have yielded their first fruits. What folly it is in men to invest their money in trees, and then wilfully ruin them in this way! In Western New York, where cultivation is about as good as in any other section, a man who cultivates his orchard or his garden thoroughly, whose trees are healthy and handsome, making vigorous growth, and yielding fine fruit, is talked of as a rarity - and so he is.

"The specimen trees in the establishment with which I am connected, are but tolerably well managed; the ground is kept clean around them, and is occasionally dressed with manure or compost; so that, in all seasons, we get a fair growth and a fair crop - but amateurs might have theirs vastly better. Yet we are daily asked what we do to our trees? and many seem to think that we have some secret art - some system of 'terra-culture' - with which the world at large is unacquainted.

"We need a complete revolution in these matters. I cannot now detain yon to go into the details of planting, and pruning, and mulching; but I beg you who understand these matters, to constitute yourselves missionaries, and preach this doctrine of high cultivation zealously in your respective parishes, and give examples of it in your own grounds, that your practice may correspond with your precept"