578 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
perience shows that borax thus used is innoxious, there are others who 
disbelieve in his conclusions. 
Further, he thinks it might be effectively employed in destroying 
phyllowera on grape-vines, but has made no experiments as yet in that 
direction. . 
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 
J. SCHUYLER CROSBY, Consul. 
THE DRIED-FRUIT TRADE. 
The abundance of the fruit crop of the United States is one of the 
most gratifying results of the progress of agriculture in this country. 
With our vast extent of territory, reaching from the temperate to the tropi- 
cal zone, and the consequent great diversity of temperature and variation 
of climate, and the light soils and rich loams embraced within these 
limits, render our country capable of producing almost every known | 
variety of fruib. u 
The States on the extreme northern limit produce the apple, the pear, 
and other hardy fruits. In the South and on the Pacific shores there are 
grown in abundance the orange and lemon, and in more limited but 
gradually increasing quantities the pineapple and the banana, while the 
intermediate States are prolific in the production ef those fruits adapted 
to their soil and climate. 
More than five millions of peach trees blossom every spring on the 
fertile lands that lie between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, and 
the interocean region of the Northwest. 
The apple crop of the country is almost beyend computation, and the 
vine product is not less plentiful. 
In New England and the Middle States the wild strawberry, raspberry, 
blueberry, huckleberry, blackberry, and cranberry ripen in the order 
named, and hundreds of poor families derive a certain income from the 
picking and sale of these fruits. The yield does not vary greatly from 
year to year, but as these berries are mainly consumed at home, there 
are no means of ascertaining the annual yield. It must, however, be 
very large. They are not only used freshon the table during their season, 
but are preserved in large quantities and great variety for winter use, 
while the strawberry, raspberry, and blackbery are also made into wine 
and cordial. 
The cranberry is largely grown, especially in Massachusetts, New 
Jersey, and Minnesota, where its cultivation has been found very profit- 
able. ‘The cranberry crop of New Jersey, in 1877, was 50,000, and in 
Minnesota 40,000 bushels. The crop of Minnesota alone, at a low esti- 
mate, yielded $150,000. 
The demand for fruit in the markets at home and abroad has been 
equal to and increasing with the supply. The prices have been gener- 
ally remunerative, both to the grower and the dealer, and yet low enough 
to be within the reach of all. The daily use of fruit as food by our people 
is greatly to be desired. Itis not only justly esteemed as a luxury, butis, 
what cannot be said of many so-called luxuries, productive of health. 
Yet so abundant is the supply of fruit in some sections that every year 
a surplus goes to waste, or is utilized only in feeding domestic animals. 
This is particularly the case with the apple crep of New England. The 
orchards of that section, and we believe this is the case generally, bear 
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