THE OA-NADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



17 



onward raarcli to higher and higher 

 states of perfection. That we shall pos- 

 sess such improved varieties as we have 

 predicted we have no reason to doubt. 

 Our country is large and varied in cli- 

 mate and soil. Though we of the 

 North cannot expect to grow tropical 

 fruits— nor may we grow a Grape of 

 the excellence of the Black Hamburg 

 suited to out-door cultivation — -yet we 

 can produce fruits of great importance 

 to ourselves, and of inestimable value 

 to other portions of our country, as we 

 have seen in the Baldwin, Rhode Island 

 Greening, and Roxbury Russet apples, 

 in the Diana, the Concord, the Rogers 

 Grapes, tlie Bartlett pear, and other 

 fruits which have been sent out from 

 New England. 



FARMERS AND SMALL FRUITS. 

 In travelling about the country among 

 he farmers I have often wondered why 

 ' few of them raised small fruits. Not 

 le in five, on an average, tastes any 

 ^ind of small fruit of his own growing 

 from one year to another. Formerly a 

 few currant bushes struggled with the 

 2;ra.ss and weeds in the fence corners and 

 'ave an abundance of small but whole- 

 jome fruit, but, with the worm as a foe, 

 :he bushes were unequal to the contest ; 

 he gra.s.s waves triumphantly over their 

 lead remains, and the farmer is entirely 

 vithout small fruit. Why this great 

 ;carcity ] Certainly not because farm- 

 ii-s do not love fine fruit. Ask any one 

 )f them into your plat, and you will be 

 lurprised to see what capacity he has 

 or stowing a large quantity in a small 

 ipace. Nor is it because he is too stingy 

 or he will send the boys and girls, and 

 ven go himself, miles away to a few 

 'raggling wild bushes to pick a few 

 •or berries that cost him two or three 

 . lines as much as it would to grow those 

 rery much better on his own farm. 



There are three reasons to which we 

 •an attribute this lack of small fruits 

 2 



on the farm : First comes carelessness. 

 The farmer sees the fruit in its prime 

 and resolves to raise plenty for his 

 family, but before planting time comes 

 he has partially forgotten his good pur- 

 pose, and lets the proper season go by. 

 Second, the mistaken notion that pre- 

 vails as to the great labor and expense 

 of growing: what would be needed to 

 supply his family. The last and best 

 reason is that the Farmer does not 

 appreciate the value of the small fruits 

 to his family, both as food and as medi- 

 cine. When he looks at the early straw- 

 berry blushing and nodding amid the 

 dew-laden leaves, and his mouth waters 

 for a taste, he does not realize that na- 

 ture is yearning within him for the acid 

 contained in the fruit, to help relieve 

 the system from the accumulations of 

 winter, and prepare it to endure sum- 

 mer's heat. He does not consider that 

 each of the fruits in its season contains 

 some principle that is just adapted to 

 the wants of the body at that time, and 

 that many times the free use of each 

 would save large amounts in doctor's 

 bills, as well as much suffering, and 

 many times the life of a beloved one. 

 The average American farmer is not 

 yet educated up to the full enjoyment 

 of his high calling and God given pri- 

 vileges. He does not yet realize that 

 he is near the fountain-head, and is en- 

 titled to partake first and of the best of 

 everything that grows, and that when 

 he neglects to provide himself and 

 family with these health-giving neces- 

 saries he is culpably responsible for the 

 bad results. 



To correct these false impressions, 

 and to cause him to provide and enjoy 

 these, his rights as the tiller of the soil, 

 would be conferring on himself and 

 family a great &n\} lasting benefit. One 

 acre of good land, properly divided and 

 cultivated, would furnish any ordinary 

 farmer's family all the fruits, fresh and 

 canned, needed from the earliest ripen- 



