CHAPTER XV. 350 CHARACTERS OF FRUITS AND THEIR VALUE. TERMS USED. CHAPTER XVI. 366 CLASSIFICATION. CHAPTER XVII. 698 FRUIT LISTS. INTRODUCTION. IMPORTANCE OF ORCHARD PRODUCTS. GOVERNMENT STATISTICS. GREAT VALUE OF ORCHARD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS. DELIGHTS OF FRUIT CULTURE. TEMPERATE REGIONS THE PROPER FIELD FOR FRUIT CULTURE, AS FOR MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. PLANTS OF CULTURE, PLANTS OF NATURE. NOMADIC CONDITION UNFAVORABLE FOR TERRA-CULTURE. NECESSITIES OF AN INCREASING POPULATION A SPUR. HIGH CIVILIZATION DEMANDS HIGH CULTURE. HORTICULTURE A FINE ART, THE POETRY OF THE FARMER'S LIFE. MORAL INFLUENCES OF FRUIT-CULTURE. SINGULAR LEGISLATION RESPECTING PROPERTY IN FRUIT. INFLUENCE UPON HEALTH. APPLES IN BREAD-MAKING; AS FOOD FOR STOCK. SOURCES AND ROUTES OF INTRODUCTION. AGENCY OF NURSERYMEN. INDIAN ORCHARDS. FRENCH SETTLERS. JOHNNY APPLE-SEED. VARIETIES OF FRUITS, LIKE MAN, FOLLOW PARALLELS OF LATITUDE. LOCAL VARIETIES OF MERIT TO BE CHERISHED. OHIO PURCHASE. SILAS WHARTON. THE PUTNAM LIST. Few persons have any idea of the great value and importance of the products of our orchards and fruit-gardens. These are generally considered the small things of agriculture, and are overlooked by all but the statist, whose business it is to deal with these minutiæ, to hunt them up, to collocate them, and when he combines these various details and produces the sum total, we are all astonished at the result. Our government wisely provides for the gathering of statistics at intervals of ten years, and some of the States also take an account of stock and production at intermediate periods, some of them, like Ohio, have a permanent statistician who reports annually to the Governor of the State.