CHAPTER XXIV. MUST WE 

 RAISE OUR OWN FRUITS, TOO? 



THE drys have gained a great victory in 

 the fruit markets. I have always been 

 very fond of dried sour cherries, but 

 until recently I had difficulty in find- 

 ing any. In 1920 the grocers had 

 barrels of them; samples were promi- 

 nently exhibited in the windows, on which was 

 pasted the mysterious legend, "Make Your Own.** 

 Why should I make my own dried cherries 

 when I can now buy them everywhere? Grocers 

 are so enigmatic! 



We also read of imported dried currants they 

 had received, and of raisins, which suddenly 

 came into such surprising demand that the 

 California growers ceased advertising them and 

 clamoring for "raisin weeks.'* "Make your 

 own,'* the grocers advise us when exhibiting any 

 of these dried fruits. It puzzles me very much. 

 Why did raisins cost three times as much as they 

 had formerly? 



By an absurd association of ideas which I 

 cannot account for, I am wondering if this vic- 

 tory of the drys will pull us back to the time 

 when all fruit was grown and sold chiefly for 

 tippling purposes. Fruit growing in America, a 

 historian tells us, ^ 



1 See U. P. Hedrick's huge but splendid book. The Peaches of 

 New York. Albany, J. B. Lyon Co., 1917. Read partioilarly the 

 remarks on Elberta peaches. 



