^ RAISE YOUR OWN FRUIT 223 



had its beginning, and for two hundred years had almost 

 its sole sustenance, in the demand for strong drink. This 

 is shown in almost every page of the agricultural litera- 

 ture of the times and in the laws of the Colonies restrict- 

 ing prices and levying taxes on liquors made from fruits. 

 Peaches were grown in quantities wherever they could 

 be made to succeed in the Colonies, not for the fruit 

 itself, but for the making of peach vinegar (a sort of 

 cider) and peach brandy (a distilled liquor). And so 

 with other fruits. 



TIME MAY SWING BACK 



Will prohibition have the paradoxical result 

 of bringing back this situation of turning all 

 our delicious fruit into booze? It looks that 

 way. Grapes have been scarce; the why is 

 answered by the presses for sale in shops and 

 on the sidewalks, and the invitation to "make 

 your own grape juice." The California vine- 

 yardists who were in a panic when prohibition 

 suddenly swooped down on them now wear 

 smiles on their faces that never come off. They 

 have doubled their income and are going to 

 erect a monument to Anderson. In a few years, 

 perhaps, such a thing as browsing in fruit marts 

 will be a thing of the past. Therefore, for the 

 benefit of future historians of the manners and 

 customs of Americans in the year 1920 I submit 

 a few remarks on what was to be seen in our 

 markets and streets in that year. For conven- 

 ience I shall use the present tense. 



Mediocrity prevails in the fruit world as 



