By favor of Mr. Cyrus T. Fox, the energetic secretary of the Berks County Agricultural Society, we have the full text of Mr. Shearer's essay on the history of fruit culture, which was regarded as one of the most valuable contributions to the meeting. He takes no stock in the guess some give that the climate has changed against the interests of fruit culture. Fruit trees want feeding; they do not get the food they require as a general thing. The " degenerate climate" has proved no match for his well fed trees. He does not prune at all except for grapes. There is no more favorable soil or climate in the world than the neighborhood of Reading for success in apple culture. He grows Baldwin largely, but chiefly because it keeps well with little trouble. Forty trees to an acre is enough for the apple. Keeps the ground clear of vegetation, by keeping the cultivator at work till middle of July. Keep out the borer, which is the chief enemy of apple culture. He has never had a visitation of pear blight. Pears require richer soil than apples. His most profitable variety is Bartlett. The home market is better than that of New York. The Reading or Hock pear is not regarded as reliable as it was fifty years ago.

Peaches require even richer food than the apple or pear, and the culture is profitable where people are not too sanguine of success. He believes the peach yellows hereditary in one part of his essay, and that it is the result of starvation in another. In regard to the borer he says :

"This can be successfully done by the application of the following wash : 4 gallons whitewash, 2 quarts clay, 2 quarts fresh cow drippings, 1 quart lye that bears an egg. Mix these ingredients to a proper consistence with water. Remove the ground from the top of the roots close to the tree, and apply the wash to the exposed roots and to the whole trunk of the tree, including the hollow between the lowest branches Cover the roots again with earth. The wash can be applied very expeditiously by means of a corn-broom; and no special pains need be taken against splashing any of the substance on the ground, for the women will raise no objections to such mishap, and the tree will eagerly appropriate the drippings, and put them where they will do the most good. The wash should be applied twice every season, namely, about the end of May and the end of August. I have found this an infallible protection of peach and apple trees against the borer. For apple trees one application of the wash every season is sufficient".

It is not good to keep the ground clear of vegetation for the cherry. It does best in grass. Low land is its abomination. Grapes like pruning because otherwise they overbear. New varieties are yet desirable. He said :

"The perfect winter apple has yet to come. The same may be said, even more emphatically, of the pear. The wished-for apple must be large, red, of the finest flavor, melting, a more than good but not an enormous bearer, a vigorous, healthy and upright grower, hardy enough to withstand the coldest winters, and must keep in an ordinary cellar until a new crop has matured. These qualities are partly possessed by many different varieties of the apple; but not until they are all united in one, shall we have the true ne plus ultra, seek-no-further apple.

"We are sadly in want of a pear that will keep throughout the winter and spring, and be good for use during these two seasons. We have no variety that approaches these requirements in any appreciable degree. Can we not with proper endeavors supply this need?

"There are many good peaches, but they are more or less liable to suffer in our latitude from the extreme cold of winter. Our efforts should be directed towards hardening the trees. The ' Globe ' peach, if I may be permitted to say a word about it, possesses all the desirable qualities of a perfect fruit. The tree is an upright, symmetrical, thrifty and vigorous grower, and good bearer, the foliage is healthy, and the fruit is very large, color yellow with a red blush, and flavor of the best quality. It would be desirable, however, if the 'Globe,' like our best peaches generally, were more ironclad, the better to endure the extremely cold winters to which the Northern States are exposed".