34 STATE HOKTICUL.TURAL SOCIETY. 



to gather in the spare money of the country folk. There were no smiles 

 at the antics and rusticity of the rural visitors, but instead there was 

 very sober approval of all they did. There were all sorts of catch-penny 

 devices, and much drinking to excess as well as more moderately. The 

 young people would go singing through the streets all the night long, yet 

 they were not disorderly — simply out for their annual holiday aad bound 

 to enjoy every moment of it. At Delf, ten miles away, we found another 

 such market. The cities paid all the expenses of these annual gatherings. 

 At Amsterdam, all things were brought to the market in boats on canals. 

 We would doubtless have stayed longer in Holland, for we found the 

 Dutch the jolliest, most courteous people we ever met — all speak English 

 and are ever ready to help one find his way or explain to him anything he 

 does not understand — all are proud of an opportunity to speak to an 

 American, and proud of the influence their people have had on America 

 (and it is more than is supposed by unthinking people) — but Holland is 

 one great stink. Everything is dumped into the canals, where it reeks 

 and decays, and smells to heaven. If there is anything in the germ theory 

 of disease, there should not be a Hollander left. Yet we found the 

 country to be very healthy, so it is not the smell that kills us. 



German markets are managed by women. The fish are kept in a tank, 

 alive. Cheese is sold in fifty or sixty kinds, all labeled, and each plainly a 

 variety, and each of a different smell. I was disappointed as to the fruit 

 in Germany. There are great quantities of it everywhere, even on the 

 roadside, and free to all to help themselves, but it is not fit to eat and is 

 mainly used ior cider. Pear trees extend for miles along the highway, 

 but the fruit is sour and bitter. We found no good fruits in Germany nor 

 Switzerland. The grapes are only grown for wine, and are unfit to be 

 eaten. At a few places, where American travel has made a demand for 

 grapes, one can get a few for fifteen to twenty cents per pound. Good 

 apples and grapes could be grown, of course, but no attention is paid to 

 the growing of good fruit. The people do not want fruit to eat, but only 

 to drink. 



At Waldshut, a little town near the German- Swiss border, we found a 

 market about a quarter acre in extent, and here there were 250 bulls so 

 nearly alike that one could scarcely be told from another. The next day 

 there were two or three times as many. They were there to be inspected 

 and graded, the grade fixing the price. Not one of them had a ring, and 

 nothing but light ropes were used to confine them. They stood in long 

 rows, face to face, perfectly docile. We found they had been brought to 

 this state of gentleness by the process of selection in breeding. After 

 inspection, girls and women led them off to the hotels — for hotels and 

 barns were under the same roof. Here the country people live in the vil- 

 lages and go to their farms, perhaps ten miles away, which really is not 

 far, over the roads they have there. 



Paris has the greatest market of the world, and it is a rare pleasure to 

 visit it, for it is so thoroughly classified and so beautifully arranged. 

 Everything is labeled, both as to kind and variety, so that one may see 

 dozens of sorts of a vegetable, each with its own name attached. Besides 

 this care of arrangement and study of effects, the people are happy, chatty, 

 and polite, though very urgent in soliciting patronage. Those of one part 

 of the great market rarely or never visit other parts. So when my friend. 

 Secretary Reynolds of the Agricultural College, bought a bunch of forced 

 lilacs and appeared in the fish market with them still in hand, they 



