STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 93 



calling, or of learning themselves, or teaching their sons the 

 principles invested in the cultivation of the soil, and it is by no 

 means surprisingto find young men disgusted with theavocation 

 which promises nothing else but unremitting care and a dull 

 routine of continued and severe labor. 



I saw a statement recently that surprised me somewhat. It 

 was this: The writer says: "I have made careful inquiry, and 

 make the statement on reliable authority, that the greatest pro- 

 portion of criminal and vicious young men under 25 years of 

 age, convicted of crimes committed in the city, are those reared 

 on the farm until they were 15 to 18 years of age." 



Now this, if true, is an alarming condition of things. It calls 

 for earnest efforts on the part of the fathers and mothers, the 

 home-makers of our rural country, to make the home life for the 

 sons and daughters happy, and farm life and work pleasant 

 rather than irksome and drudgery. The young have a firm 

 belief that life ought to yield a great deal of pleasure, and if 

 things are unpleasant at home they will go elsewhere in hope 

 of bettering their condition. 



Other things being in keeping in the home affairs, a bounti- 

 ful supply of the summer fruits grown by the family and for the 

 family, counts as a moral force in the home; the culture of the 

 higher nature of its inmates whose recompense is in coin that 

 will be current in the higher spheres. 



CURTAILS doctors' FEES. 



There is health in the growing of the small fruits for family 

 use. A direct beneficial effect from the consumption of the 

 fruits the'mselves, and also in the work of cultivating them. 

 Horticulture is peculiarly adapted to the capacity of women in 

 the requirements of manual labor. In man's primeval state the 

 woman seems to have gathered the first fruit — whether she had 

 a hand in cultivating it is not so clear. 



The srnall fruits are healthful of themselves as a dietary factor 

 in the farmer's family. As appetizing promoters of health, as 

 important factors in economizing household expenses, such as 

 the reduction of butchers' and doctors' bills, an abundant daily 

 use of these small fruits in the farmer's family more than com- 

 pensates for all their cost and trouble. 



