CHAPTER III. 



SMALL FRUIT FARMING AND ITS PROFITS. 



A FARM without a fruit garden may justly be regarded 

 '^^ as proof of a low state of civilization in the farmer. 

 No country hom.e should be without such simple means of 

 health and happiness. For obvious reasons, however, there 

 is not, and never can be, the same room for fruit raising 

 as there is for grain, grass, and stock farming. Neverthe- 

 less, the opportunities to engage with profit in this industry 

 on a large scale are increasing every year. From being a 

 luxury of a few, the small fmits have become an article of 

 daily food to the million. Even the country village must 

 have its supply, and the number of crates that are shipped 

 from New York city to neighboring towns is astonishingly 

 large. As an illustration of the rapidly enlarging demand 

 for these fruits, let us consider the experience of one West- 

 em city, Cincinnati. Mr. W. H. Corbly, who is there re- 

 garded as one of the best informed on these subjects, has 

 gathered the following statistics : "In 1835 it was regarded 

 as a most wonderful thing that 100 bushels of strawberries 

 could be disposed of on the Cincinnati market in one day, 

 and was commented on as a great event. A close estimate 

 shows that during the summer of 1879 eighty to eighty-five 

 thousand* bushels of strawberries were sold in Cincinnati. 

 Of course, a large part of these berries were shipped away, 

 but it is estimated that nearly one-half were consumed here. 

 About the year 183S the cultivation of black raspberries 



