336 EXPENCES OF HOUSE-KEEPING. [PART II. 



year fa? four pence halfpenny (English) a bushel, 

 to boil for little pigs. Besides these, strawber 

 ries grow wild in abundance ; but no one will 

 take the trouble to get them. Huckle-berries 

 in the woods in great abundance, chesnuts all 

 over the country. Four pence half-penny (Eng 

 lish) a quart for these latter. Cranberries, the 

 finest fruit for tarts that ever grew, are bought 

 for about a dollar a bushel, and they will keep, 

 flung down in the corner of a room, for five 

 months in the year. As a sauce to venison or 

 mutton, they are as good as currant jelly. Pine 

 apples in abundance, for several months in the 

 year, at an average of an English shilling each. 

 Melons at an average of an English eight pence. 

 In short, what is there not in the way of fruit? 

 All excellent of their kinds and all for a mere 

 trifle, compared to what they cost in England. 



335. I am afraid to speak of drink, lest I 

 should be supposed to countenance the common 

 use of it. But, protesting most decidedly against 

 this conclusion, I proceed to inform those, who 

 are not content with the cow for vintner and 

 brewer, that all the materials for making people 

 drunk, or muddle headed, are much cheaper 

 here than in England. Beer, good ale, I mean, 

 a great deal better than the common public- 

 house beer in England ; in short, good, strong, 

 clear ale, is, at New York, eight dollars a bar- 



