APPKNDIX I, 309 



seen before here and thsre a cluster that must have been very nearly a 

 pound in weight and, although none were ripe enough to taste, we could 

 easily credit Dr. Underbill's asiurancas that they would soon prove as 

 luscious as they then looked. 



"The doctor is rightly very particular that none shall go to market 

 until they are fully ripe. He says it requires a good deal of experience 

 and judgment to determine when they are ready for market. He expected 

 to begin picking about the 15th, and he generally continues the marketing 

 season for about two months. During this period he engages a store in 

 New York, where his grapes are all disposed of, with the exception of 

 those retailed at confectionery and other stores through the city, and 

 consumed at the hotels. His lowest wholesale price is fifteen cents per 

 Ib. ; by the basket to families, sixteen ; and when less than a basket is 

 sold, twenty. One point which we should not omit to note, inasmuch as 

 it is one in which fruit-growers are far too generally negligent and regard- 

 less of their own interest, is the care and nicety with which Dr. Underbill 

 prepares his fruit for market. We have seen his particularity in respect 

 to the entire ripeness of all that are picked ; and every bunch of the vast 

 number he sells is looked over, and the defective berries cut out by hand, 

 so that not one may be left which a child two years old might not eat 

 with impunity. Then, put up in new and neat baskets, they present an 

 attractive appearance, which goes a great way in winning the heart or, 

 perhaps, we should rather say, inciting the appetite of the purchaser. 



" When Dr. Underhill commenced, a good many years ago, he was the 

 first and only one in the business, and could only command about five 

 cents a pound for his fruit. He has not endeavored to retain this mono- 

 poly, but is always happy to explain everything he knows to any inquirer, 

 and justly thinks that the more good fruit he can induce others to grow, 

 the more public attention will be brought to the luxury, or indeed the 

 necessity of the article, and the greater will be the consequent request 

 for it. How just were these calculations, is shown in the ample demand 

 that now exists for all he can grow at three times the price at which he 

 started. We trust that he will not give up his present purpose of some- 

 time presenting to the world the system which his long and careful, and, 

 we may add, profitable, experience has matured. 



"There are several other points which we had it in mind to speak of 

 at some length, connected with Dr. Underbill's agricultural and horti- 

 cultural practice. The extent of the present paper will compel us to be 

 very brief. 



" Several lessons may be derived by every farmer from what has been 

 already written. He has seen how our friend economizes all his manures, 

 and how he has discovered the secret not only of constantly increasing 

 the fertility of his lands, but of adapting the crop grown to the wants of his 

 nearest market, and thereby obtaining very much greater profits than the 



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