152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



I come from a part of the country in which small fruits are 

 abundant. Mr. Hale, in his paper yesterday, said that one- 

 quarter of an acre was sufficient for a farmer's fruit garden. 

 If you have a very large family you will find, very soon, that 

 half an acre will not furnish you fruit enough. It is said by 

 the doctor that malaria prevails in some portions of Connecti- 

 cut. Now, the acid of fruits is one of the preventives of 

 malaria. I think that if fruits were more eaten, and the acids 

 of fruits, there would be less sickness. As I came up from 

 Bridgeport to this place, I was struck with the absence of fruit 

 gardens, and knowing, from experience in my own family, that 

 our doctor's bills are very much less when we have fruit — I 

 think the eating of fruit is conducive to health. A great 

 many are apt to think that there may be less acid in some 

 fruit because it is sweet or because sugar is used on it ; but 

 the fact is, that all fruits contain more acid than many real- 

 ize. For instance, the currant is said to be a very acid fruit ; 

 the blackberry, in reality, contains more acid than the currant. 

 And so sugar does not do away with the acid, it simply dis- 

 guises the flavor. 



The doctor also said that many men married their second 

 and third wives. Well, if you had larger fruit gardens, you, 

 probably, would not have to have but the one wife ! (Laugh- 

 ter and applause.) My wife will not cook a pie or the least 

 pastry in the summer. She has fresh fruit enough on the 

 table three times a day. In my own family, we use from six- 

 teen to twenty quarts of strawberries a day, and my children, 

 five and six years old, will eat from three to five pounds of 

 grapes every day during the grape season, and the healthiest 

 period of their lives is when they take the most fruit. So, if 

 you do not wish to have second and third wives, and do want 

 healthy children and reduced doctor's bills, plant more small 

 fruits. (Applause.) 



Mr. Blot. It takes a great deal of time and labor to cul- 

 tivate fruit. It is very well for the man who means to devote 

 his time and money to the raising of fruit, but every farmer 

 can raise vegetables. We know that all the Arctic expedi- 



