JHE DRIED-FRUIT TRADE. 581 
dens. This has already been done to some extent in the vicinity of New 
Orleans. . 
The writer once visited a fruit-farm on the Mississippi, a few miles 
above New Orleans, which was established a few years after the late 
civil war, and in walking over the acres of strawberry-beds the propri- 
etor remarked that save in exceptionally cold seasons he could send 
strawberries to market every day inthe year. The river communication 
enabled him to send his fruit to market in perfect condition, and the 
enterprise had proved a very remunerative one. 
The estimated value of the strawberry crop is $5,000,000. 
In California it is reported that there are sixty thousand acres of this 
fruit under cultivation. Virginia is largely interested in its cultivation, 
and immense quantities are shipped thence to the markets of the north- 
ern cities. 
The consumption of strawberries in the cities named below, in the 
year 1877, was as follows: 
Bushels 
IME Gy dl Re ee eee ae ae eee eae 58,000 
RETIRE TN pc a oin S  aaa mereel a whac cia ad ee een oe 19,000 
nO Heere sees osu sea ace cae A eteciaae cl baca cess ceeacns cocebee ocete cacescem 18,000 
ey REE ee ees ae eS SS Ee 2 NE et SE 16: 000. 
In 1877 there were shipped from Virginia over 5,000,000 of quarts, 
and there were ten thousand pickers in the fields gathering the fruit at 
a time. There is one farm of 185 acres exclusively planted in straw- 
erries. 
In the same year there were shipped to Boston from various points 
11,547 crates of strawberries of 45 quarts each, or more than 16,000 
bushels. The shipments of strawberries from Cincinnati in one week 
in June, 1877, reached 17,000 bushels. 
The statistical returns of the United States give as the value of 
smaller fruits other than those mentioned the sum of $10,432,800, mak- 
ing ‘a total valuation of the whole production of fruits in the United 
States of $138,216,700, a sum nearly equal to one-half of the wheat crop 
of the country. 
American fruit is held in high estimation in Europe, and the foreign 
trade in this article alone is becoming one of great value to our mer- 
chants. The first shipments of apples to Great Britain were made from 
Boston some thirty years ago, and were confined to one variety, the 
Newton Pippin, a small green-colored but fine-flavored and juicy apple, 
which was greatly esteemed in England. These early shipments brought 
the then unheard-of prices of $6 to $8 per barrel, the result of which 
was to take the Newton Pippin entirely out of the home market. 
There were shipped from Philadelphia to England last year 1,500 bar- 
rels of apples, and the port of Liverpool received of American apples 
90,000 barrels. From New York it is estimated that in abundant years ~ 
one and a half million barrels are exported to foreign countries. Large 
quantities are shipped from Boston. 
The whole amount of exports of fruits of all kinds for the year end- 
ing June 30, 1877, was valued at $2,937,025. 
It can be seen by the above figures that fruit-culture has become a 
vast industry, realizing valuable profits, giving employment to thou- 
sands of people, and supplying business through every artery of trade. 
This trade in fruits will be augmented from year to year by the intro- 
duction of refrigerators on railways and steamers, by which the. more 
delicate fruits can be transported in fresh condition to and from all parts 
