1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEJVIER. 



23 



SMAtL FRUITS. 



THEIR CULTURE AND DSE. 



oxsiDEitixG their means and 

 opportunities, there is prob- 

 ably no class of our people 

 that neglects so many opportuni- 

 ties for the improvement of the 

 intellectual faculties, and the cul- 

 ture of so many things that have 

 a direct tendency to exalt and 

 otxlni the mind, as that of farmers. As a 

 general rule, the mechanic, although not pos- 

 sessing half the pecuniary ability, supplies his 

 family with amusements, accomplishments or 

 graces, and the means of gratifying a healthy 

 appetite, in a far greater degree than the far- 

 mer generally does. If the mechanic has but 

 twenty square feet of land, he will crowd it 

 with culinary plants and a succession of flow- 

 ers, and send up a Concord or other grape 

 vine to shade the kitchen windows from July 

 suns, and make home attractive to the children, 

 especially when the fruit hangs upon it in all 

 its purple lusciousness. He tends the spot 

 with scrupulous care. Not a weed defiles it. 

 He gives each plant its own share of room, — 

 clipping an over-grown branch here, and en- 

 couraging a feeble bud there, until it stands in 

 the beauty of perfection, and yields fruit, or 

 flower, or root, up to itshighestpower of pro- 

 duction. He keeps the soil so fine, porous 

 and light, that it absorbs every dewdrop that 

 is distilled upon it, — drinks pvery summer 

 shower that comes to its surface, and carries 

 its ammonia to the masses of roots which eve- 

 rywhere fill the ground. If the season is dry, 

 his soil attracts moisture from the air above it 

 every day. If wet, the air passes freely down 

 among its particles, taking heat along with it 

 and stimulating the halting roots. 



His garden — if it may so be called — is a lit- 

 tle Eden. Every plant in it is as familiar as 

 the faces around his fireside. He is in it when 

 the dews glisten in the sun's first rays. ^ Com- 

 ing from school, the children pass to the house 

 through the garden. Its attractions are 

 stronger than those of the dinner table. They 

 pluck a fragrant leaf or flower to adorn the 

 hair, or to present to mother or sister, and 

 home, and dinner, and filial love, are all the 

 better for it. 



The mercliaiit tires of the counting-room, 

 the ledger, the vicissitudes in trade and the 

 money market. He must watch with eagle 



eye and active brain every pulsation in com- 

 mercial affairs ; he must not let the golden mo- 

 ment slip, and the glittering profits fall into 

 his neighbor's pockets ; he must wait, and 

 watch, and snatch the prize at once, or it is lost ! 

 So in his narrow circle, shut out from the 

 fields of air, from the world of life and beauty, 

 he continues his unattractive, daily toils. He 

 longs for acres in the country, where he can 

 feel the unpolluted breath of heaven on his 

 cheek, hear the music of birds and running 

 brooks, and the harps among the pines ; where 

 he can enjoy amplitude of thought and motion, 

 and see Nature as she changes her scene^ and 

 sounds and forms. 



Let us follow him into the country. Where 

 do we first find him ? In the garden, where God 

 first placed man ! It is not so much a convic- 

 tion of utiliiy that leads him there, as a com- 

 mon instinct that the garden will best supply the 

 first wants of the family ; that there, the 

 greatest amount and variety may be produced 

 by the least labor. lie is not, nor* was the 

 mechanic, a farmer or gardener, and yet it is 

 with such that the best examples of skill and 

 profit may be found. The yard of the me- 

 chanic, or the limited farm of the city mer- 

 chant, may be visited and studied with advan- 

 tage by the professed farmer, the proprietor 

 and cultivator of extended fields. More ac- 

 tual money profit is frequently gained from the 

 former, than in an equal number of the latter. 

 Evidence of this is every year afforded at our 

 annual shows. If we can succeed in produc- 

 ing per acre, at the same rate which they of- 

 ten produce per rod, we shall astoni h the wis- 

 est committee that ever sat in judgment on the 

 products of the soil. 



Let us imitate their examples in the cultiva- 

 tion of the small fruits that are adapted to 

 our climate. A leading one among them is 



The Currant. — This fruit is gaining popu- 

 lar favor every day, — still there are hundreds 

 of farms without a currant bush upon them. 

 It is easy of culture, hardy, and will thrive 

 upon a soil that would produce a fair crop of 

 corn. The best mode of getting them is to 

 take cuttings in the spring which have grown 

 the previous summer, and set them where it is 

 intended they shall grow. They should be 

 cut very early, and set as soon as the 

 ground will admit them. They should be 

 vigorous, thick cuttings, and set two-thirds of 



