298 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



dance of this homely, wholesome, palatable fruit. It 

 should have been cheap for the great body of our 

 mechanics and laborers to provide their families with 

 all the ripe, good Apples that they could consume 

 without injuring themselves by gluttony. Good Ap- 

 ples should have been constantly displayed on every 

 workingman's table, to be eaten raw as a dessert, or 

 baked and eaten with bread and milk for breakfast 

 or supper. Each provident housewife should now 

 have her tub of apple-sauce, her barrel of dried ap- 

 ples, or both, for "Winter use ; while a dozen bushels 

 of good keepers should be stored in every cellar, to 

 be drawn upon from day to day during the next four 

 or five months. In short, Apples should have been 

 and be, from last August to next May, as common as 

 bread and potatoes, and should have been and be as 

 freely eaten in every household and by every fireside. 



How nearly have we realized this ? 



I will not guess how many millions of bushels 

 have rotted under the trees that bore them, been 

 eaten by animals to little or no profit, or turned into 

 cider that did not sell for so much as it cost, counting 

 the Apples of no value. Living immediately on a 

 railroad that runs into this City, wherefrom my place 

 is 35 miles distant, I should be able to do better with 

 Apples than most growers; and yet I judge that 

 half my Apples were of no use to me. Many of 

 them sold in this City for $1 per barrel, including the 

 cask, which cost me 40 cents ; and, when you have 

 added the cost of transportation, you can guess that 



