8 SMALL FRUIT CULTURIST. 



of the markets, while at the same time a demand for some- 

 thing better has arisen. Hence the necessity for assisting 

 nature in her efforts to unfold the many useful fruits which 

 remain hidden until touched by the skillful hand of science. 



So soon as our horticulturists began to cultivate the 

 small fruits, they became aware of their before unknown 

 merits, and eagerly sought every means of developing 

 them to the extent of their capabilities. These efforts 

 have been immensely successful in producing new and bet- 

 ter varieties, which, becoming known to the public, have 

 so largely increased the demand that all attempts to fully 

 supply the markets have been inadequate. 



The progress of fruit-culture in the United States is 

 probably more apparent than in other countries, for we 

 have only to go back to a period within the memory of 

 horticulturists still living to ascertain nearly every fact in 

 regard to its history ; ask any of our older horticulturists 

 concerning the markets of forty years ago, and they will 

 tell us that there were no Hovey or Wilson Strawberries 

 offered for sale in those days ; no Cherry or White Grape 

 Currants ; no Dorchester or New Rochelle Blackberries ; 

 but that they were wholly supplied with berries from the 

 woods and uncultivated fields. 



During the last ten years we have made more progress 

 in small fruit-culture than in thirty years before, and, not- 

 withstanding this progress, we now find that we have 

 scarcely begun to cultivate them intelligently. 



The cause of our advancement is, in a great measure, 

 due to the dissemination of information upon the subject 

 through the horticultural and agricultural press. It is by 

 reading these that the masses have learned where to obtain 

 the plants they desire and how to cultivate them. Thus, 

 by having a medium through which both parties are ben- 

 efited, trade is augmented and progress made more certain. 



Originators of new varieties are stimulated to greater 

 exertions, knowing that, if successful, they will be amply 



