100 ANNUAL REPORT. Al 
$1,000 an acre for tke crop, as some fruit: growers have claimed, and per-_ 
haps have succeeded in some instances to obtain; but if you are near a 
good market, and attend to the handling and marketing of the fruit your- 
self, there is no crop that will pay better. The fruit should be picked as 
it ripens, for if left on the vines todo long it becomes too soft to handle. 
‘Lhe better way is to divide the plat in two equal parts, (as the fruit ripens 
in succession) and go over one part each day, picking all the ripe berries 
clean ‘as you go. Never use buckets or tubs for gathering or carrying, 
unless you intend the fruit for jam. 
For marketing, pint baskets are preferable to quarts, and a flaring bas- 
ket is better than a straight or upright one, as the weight of the fruit 
rests more against the sides, and presses less at the bottom. The baskets 
should be well filled, and the fruit placed upon the market in the best pos- 
sible concition, as ultimate success depends very much on our reputation 
for honesty and fair dealing. If near enough to a large city. and you have 
no more fruit than you can handle, it would be better to select your cus- 
tomers and supply them from day to day, saving the commission of mid- 
dle men, who frequently absorb all the profits. In engaging ina business of 
this kind certain conditions are necessary: First,a good market; second, 
one that is easy of access; and third, quick and cheap transportation, 
without which no certain calculations could be made, as the business may 
be overdone, and we should not be able to compete with those having ad- 
vantages over us. 
But there is a market that I have neyer seen glutted, and the prices are 
always remunerative; I mean the home market. How many of you farmers 
and mechanics have even a scant supply of those health-giving fruits? and 
yet how easy it would be for every one owning a few rods of ground, to 
cultivate enough for family use, not only while fresh, but to can, and pre- 
serve, and dry to supply the table the whole year round. 
Twenty years ago I came to Minnesota in poor health,—my family’s 
health was poor, but we are all living, and now we have eight children, 
and since we have had plenty of fruit to supply the table, no physician has 
entered our door (professionally) in the past eight or nine years; not since 
our last baby was born. 
The Birds. 
And now one plea for the birds and lam done. Some persons say that 
they would plant out more of those small fruits, but the birds always get 
the largest share. True, if you plant no more than the birds ought to 
have, for they are co-laborers with yourself, protecting and saving the 
fruit from devouring insects, while you only do your part in cultivatiag 
the crop. Are they not worthy of their hire? 
Long before you have left your dreamy couch, they have sung their 
morning hymn, and gone forth like angels of mercy upon their errand to 
save, and with microscopic eyes search out and destroy those small insects 
that are just ready to devour the crop. But man comes sneaking out, creep- 
ing, and crawling, and crouching beneath the hedge with murderous gun 
n hand, brings down the fluttering birds, bleeding and dying, at his feet 
What wonder if the earth is cursed for man’s sake? 
