WINTER MEETING. 231 



ment of happiness that comes to us ia contemplating the works of the 

 Ood of nature. When fruiting is at hand, we receive in its use the 

 most luscious and finely flavored product of all creation. A liberal use 

 of fruits produces good digestion, followed by a clean liver, a clear 

 brain and rosy cheeks. These combined elements produce happiness, 

 and happiness continued is, according to the old doctors, heaven 

 itself. 



The part that seems most interesting to the many is the dollars 

 that the business produces. Experts tell us that an acre of small fruits 

 properly cared for will produce 200 bushels of fruit, worth $500. These 

 figures cannot be obtained every year, but fruit-growers do not expect 

 less than $150 to $200 per acre for small fruits or garden truck, unless 

 we have an extreme drouth, as in the past season. Ko one who has 

 paid any attention to small-fruit culture or markets will deny that the 

 business is profitable from a financial stand point, as a good quality is 

 always in good demand at fair prices. The point we wish to emphasize 

 is not so much the dollars that will accrue to the small-fruit industry, 

 but the benefit to the masses who do not raise fruit exclusively for the 

 market. 



A possible 60 per cent of the farming class raise no small fruits, 

 and enjoy none except the pickings along the fences and depressions. 

 Every one knows that a succession of small fruits can be obtained 

 with little labor, that will supply the good house-wife with something 

 new, fresh and patable, at a time of universal dearth in vegetables, 

 and when the larder is at low tide. The fact is also accepted that this 

 succession of fruits, commencing with the strawberry, followed by rasp- 

 berry, dwarf, juneberry, mulberry, blackberry, plum, currant, goose- 

 berry,-grapes, etc., carrying us to mature apples and peaches, make 

 to us the finest tonic and appetizer in the world. 



Those who follow this line have little or no use for doctors or 

 quack nostrums. Those who follow the laws of nature and eat what 

 Ood has provided for us, instead of stuffing ourselves with pastry and 

 condiments, will have a better lease of life, higher enjoyment, and will 

 have served our day and generation in something useful and beneficial, 

 when we part the mist and step into the vestibule that leads to the 

 great beyond. 



DISCUSSION. 



S. W. Gilbert — I would like to ask for a little information about 

 the cultivation of small fruits. I wish to know how to make a straw- 

 berry plant bring its whole crop to perfection, and what fertilizers 

 must I use to make large, firm berries? Will different fertilizers make 

 berries hard or soft? I want size and firmness, regardless of quality, 



