SECRETARY'S rORTFOLIO. 347 



Take the price of apples, peaches, pears, strawberries, grapes, etc., and for 

 forty years, dividing that time into four periods of ten years each, and statis- 

 tics show tliat on an average tiie price of fruit has constajitly increased. In 

 strawberries and other small fruit:? this has been very marked. Production 

 has grown rapidly in that time, but prices have constantly advanced. Occas- 

 ionally we have a year of great abundance of apples, and prices are low. But 

 farmers generally do not seem to have realized yet that the surplus apples may 

 be very profitably utilized in fattening both hogs and cattle. The best of 

 meat may be made with a little corn and plenty of apple food. In older 

 countries it is well known that this kind of feed, cooked and mixed with 

 ground grain, is very healthful for all kinds of stock, and it is doubted that 

 hogs would have the disease known as cholera if fed this kind of ration fre- 

 quently. So we see that in years of abundance the surplus fruit, when the 

 price is low% may be profitably fed to stock, and thus we may realize a good 

 price for it. There is no danger of planting too many orchards, or of getting 

 too much fruit. — Indiana Farmer. 



HINTS UPON MARKETING. 



0. D. Lawton, Secretary of the Lawton Pomological Society, gives valuable 

 hints as to marketing. He says : 



Few fruits, in preparing for market, need to be more carefully handled than 

 apples. Peaches will bear much rougher usage, but great care should be taken 

 not to bruise any fruit. The keeping and eating qualities of fruit depend 

 much on the time at which it is gathered ; it should be picked from the tree 

 just the right period of ripeness. This condition of proper ripeness is a 

 matter much easier learned by observation and experience than by description. 

 The fruit shows a general color indicating a change to ripeness which an 

 experienced picker will recognize. Upon some fruits, as the peach, there is a 

 certain indescribable bloom or shade, a slight brightening of color, an increased 

 brightness of the little red specks scattered over the fruit, which one accus- 

 tomed to the business will readily perceive and which will enable him to act 

 accordingly. Generally, peaches are too ripe when shipped, especially if the 

 market be distant; if the market be near at hand, the fruit may be allowed 

 to remain longer upon the tree ; although peaches will bear harsher treatment 

 than apples, yet care should be taken not to break oil the stems. 



Mr. Engle, an experienced peach grower, says that his observation siiows 

 only loss on marketing over-ripe peaches. He has always found that peaches, 

 picked in the proper season, brought on the average double received for those 

 wliich were allowed to remain on the tree until too ripe. If peaches are to be 

 sent to any distance, it is undoubtedly better to pack them in boxes, since 

 boxes enable the shipper to press down the fruit more snugly and to cause 

 them thus to retain their places in the package during the journey to market. 

 Care should be observed to select the fruit of a uniform size both for appear- 

 ance and for convenience in packing. Small peaches should never be mixed 

 with large ones. It is better to pick over a tree several times, so as to select 

 of the same degree of ripeness and of corresponding size. 



In packing it is better to sort the fruit, making two or three grades. If 

 small peaches are put in -with large ones they should be on the top so that they 

 may be first seen and show that they are not put in for deception. Buyers 



