274 ANNUAL REPORT 



picked by hand, and if disposed of in the market, packed in clean 

 ■barrels. The packing should be done so that no rattling will oc- 

 cur in the barrel. The fruit ought to be assorted and only the best 

 sold. Apples will last last longer if they are placed in piles for 

 two or three weeks before packing. The barrel should be shaken 

 several times in filling and heaped at the top when the head is put 

 in. A pressure should be applied to force them down so that there 

 be no shaking up and down of the fruits. 



It has been my fortune to travel much over this State. I have 

 been up and down and over it, again and again, and the barrenness 

 of nearly all the so-called homes in it is heai t-sickening. How 

 much of health and beauty might be imparted were there growing 

 on every farm not only a good orchard but a good supply of every 

 other kind of fruit. My own place is not large, but I have it filled, 

 every available part of it, with apple and crab trees, grapes, plums, 

 strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and currants, and although 

 all are of recent setting, yet our table has been supplied once a day 

 most of the time since last spring, either from this or the vegetable 

 garden. I wish I could, and I speak it from the heart, say some- 

 thing that would induce every householder in Minnesota to have 

 these delicacies, which our kind Heavenly Father has given us, on 

 his table the year round, for the good of himself and family, as 

 well as for the pleasure and satisfaction their cultivation and 

 development will bring him. 



