STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 95 



comes in as a handy berry after strawberries to be served when 

 ripe either raw or cooked, or earHer when quite green for sauce 

 or pies, and then the main crop later canned for winter use. So 

 good a fruit and one so easily cultivated, and one that responds 

 so readily to a little extra cultivation, should not be omitted 

 from the home garden. 



There is one point applicable to all three of the bush fruits, 

 the currant, raspberry and blackberry, that may be urged in 

 their favor, and that is the comparatively little care they require 

 after the plants are set. Properly trimmed and the superfluous 

 sprouts and new growths restricted through the summer, a plan- 

 tation of either sort will thrive and bear for an indefinite time. 



LESSONS FOR THE BOYS AND GIRLS. 



The cultivation of the small fruits, even to the limitation of the 

 home supply, affords a fine field for the boys and girls to culti- 

 vate and develop habits of study and observation, especially in 

 growing seedlings and starting cuttings. Take the currant 

 and gooseberry, for instance. In growing new plants from 

 cuttings, the wonderful processes of nature are brought to view, 

 and becoming interested in these things the mind is expanded 

 and the affections broadened and deepened by the beneficent 

 influences emanating from touch with the harmonies of Nature. 



The interest once fairly started in watching and waiting the 

 growth and development of plants which their own labor and 

 care have developed, and the pleasure they experience in testing 

 fruits of their own production, or in showing them to others, 

 ought to inspire a fascination and attachment to the farmer boy's 

 home that would lessen the desire and inclination for city life, 

 and if they should eventually leave home to seek their fortune in 

 town or city, they will in after life retain pleasant memories of 

 their childhood home with becoming gratitude to father and 

 mother. 



