LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 115 



A voice : Is yellows known by the fruit or by the leaves? 

 Mr. Loomis: Both. I do not plow my orchard. 

 Mr. Fuss: How far apart ought peach trees to be set? 

 Mr. Gould : Sixteen feet each way. 



SMALL FRUIT FOR THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



BY ^V. A. SMITH. 

 [Read at Berrien Institute.] 



Horticulture, as in the past, must be considered the acme of agriculture ; 

 but under the American system, it is more specific in its application. The 

 term, as now used, is more particularly employed to designate the pomological 

 department of husbandry, or the cultivation of the various fruits. Most, if 

 not all our more valuable fruits are merely improved specimens of wild types 

 found in nature. These improvements are brought about by various means; 

 viz., by cultivation, selection, hybridization, etc. 



In many warm countries, tlie native fruits of the soil supply both man and 

 beast in great part with the necessaries of life. It is well known that in tropical 

 climates the human race requires but little animal food; while in the cold, 

 frigid belts, animal food containing a large supply of carbon or fatty matter 

 is indispensable. From these well known facts we can readily deduce a prin- 

 ciple applicable to ourselves; viz., that in the hot summer months our systems 

 require more vegetable acids and less carbon or heat producing food than in 

 the cold winter season. Hence, during the warm season at least, we should, 

 have a bountiful supply of good ripe luscious fruit, both for economy and 

 hygiene. 



That small fruits have of late years become a necessity rather than a luxury, 

 is plainly indicated by their enormous consumption in all our large towns and 

 cities. Our city cousins have the advantage of us in this, that their season is 

 much longer than ours. From early spring till late fall their market is 

 bountifully supplied from near and far, while we must depend mainly upon 

 our own short season for our supply. AVhile we are conlined to a short season 

 of production, we have every other advantage. We can always have them in 

 their perfect state of ripeness and freshness. While the consumption of 

 small fruits in the cities is mainly by the middle or laboring classes, I am 

 sorry to say there are yet thousands of well-to-do farmers throughout the 

 country who deprive themselves and their families of these cheap and whole- 

 some comforts. Surely if any class of people is entitled above any other to 

 live on the cream and fat of the land it is the producing class, by whose toil 

 and sweat the wealth of the world is produced. Not only should, and could, 

 every husbandman in the land have an abundance of these necessary comforts 

 of life in their season, but they should be preserved by drying or canning for 

 use in the household during the balance of the year, t firmly believe that 

 such a course would materially reduce the doctor bills by toning up the 

 general health. 



In this paper I shall aim to be practical and recommend for cultivation only 

 such as are known to be meritorious in quality, hardiness, and productiveness; 

 and but a limited number of these. And as this paper is intended particularly 



