■60 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



Dec. 



ligious, political, or literary, and they were all read nearly see the bottom of his purse. But worse 

 more or less by all the family. But the great fea-j than al 1 this was the result of his "not being expos- 

 tm-e of attraction and source of enjoyment to the|ed to al sorts of weather," but of his he'mg exposed 

 family was the plat called "the garden," and it was to the confinement o^ashop and to the bench. His 

 worthy of its name. Each one had his or her dis- own system had become diseased, so that he was 



tinct part set off by metes and bounds, and each cul- 

 tivated it just as they saw fit. 



The mother had in her pai't the useful herbs, 

 pie-plant, asparagus and a row of gooseberries 

 which a friend had sent her, of a choice kind. The 

 father paid attention mainly to the kitchen garden 

 vegetables, onions, beets, carrots, early potatoes. 



scarce /y a day free from pain ; and one of his sons 

 had all the marks of a consumptive about him, and 

 all the f amily were aihng most of the time. One 

 day during the winter Mr. Russel happened in to 

 his neighbor Burton's as they were just setting 

 down to dinner, and beside the usual dishes found 

 on a farmer's table, there was a large dish of apples, 



&c., and around his own and Mrs. Burton's was set' another of pears, and still another of grapes! 



out a row of currant bushes, red and white; and: "How on earth can you afford to buy such things 



then they had a patch they cultivated in common, in' these hard times ?" inquired jNIr. Russel. 



which were to be found cucumbers, early peas,j "Buy," responded Mr. Burton, "these were not 



beans, &c. Then each of the young folks had bought, we raised them !" 



whatever fancy or inclination dictated, and there "What! you don't say you raised those grapes 



was a generous rivalry between them as to which i and the pears too !" 



should exhibit the most attractive territory. The| "Certainly I do! I did not raise them myself, 



gii-ls each planned her own "improvements," and the ^ but Anna raised the white grapes on her arbor, and 



boys rendered all needed assistance in spading, Mai'v and Julia raised the purple ones on theirs, 



planting trees, or constructing arbors, or any thing | and Luther and Calvin raised the pears and apples.' 



else that required their aid. Their gardens, of! "Well," said Mr. Russel, "I'm going to beg one 



course, abounded mostly in flowers and shrubs, j of each kind of the apples and of the pears and a 



though among these were to be seen strawberry bunch of each kind of grapes to carry home ; and 



beds, in the most perfect condition, tomatoes, mel-!as sure as spring opens again, and I'm a hve man, 



ons, and a variety of other fruits. The "twins" 

 went mostly into tree-frmts, as cherries, peaches, 

 pears and apples. Calvin was mainly interested in 

 cherries, plums and peaches, while Luther as assid- 

 ulously cultivated pears, — dwarf and standard — 

 and apples ; and there was not a day in the year in 

 which the family were not fully supplied with fresh 

 fruits. The apples were not gone from the bins in 

 the cellar, before strawberries, early cherries, &c., 

 were abundant ; then currants, gooseberries, rasp- 

 berries, early apples and pears came again, and so 

 the deHcious circle was seldom broken throughout 

 the year. Owing to these ripe fruits to season their 

 food, diseases were seldom known in the family. 



I'll go back to my old business of farming !" 



ANTWERP RASPBERRIES. 



The Poughkeepsie (A". Y.) Eagle gives a very 

 good account of the details and extent of one branch 

 of "Fruit Culture" thus: — 



But few persons are aware of the extent and im- 

 portance of this comparatively new branch of the 

 Agricultural, or rather Horticultural business. 



The most extensive operations in this part of the 

 country, are carried on at ISIilton, Ulster county, al- 

 thoujih the fruit is largely cultivated in this coun- 



It was a pleasing sight to see the whole family i ty. 

 after supper, toward the close of daj', enjoying I There are now about 100 acres of raspberries in 

 themselves in the garden, admiring each others' pro- : bearing in the immediate vicinity of Milton, and im- 

 ductions, eating fruit and nursing some pet flower I mense quantities of plants are being set out every 

 or tree. This was happiness, simple, pure and ele- year. 



vated. It was considered almost a calamity to any i A few days ago we ^is^ted the raspberry planta- 

 member of the family to be away from home at tion of Nathaniel Hallock, at Milton, in order to 

 such a time. None minded working hard during learn the /worfits o/?em?u/i of the culture. Mr. Hal- 



the day, for rest and recreation awaited them after 

 the day's work was done. 



They had struggled on through "hard times for 

 farmers," when every other interest seemed to pros- 

 per. But there was a great change approaching ; 

 the knowing ones saw the indication before it was 

 felt by the mass. The prices of provisions began to 

 rise, and in a short time the only class that seemed 

 to prosper was the farmer. The boot business fell 



to the lowest ebb ; httle or nothing to be done, and ; strawberries are sold, in fact the berries would hard- 

 only the most ruinous prices paid for labor, ruinous 'ly sell, if sent to New York in strawberry baskets. 

 to the laborer. 



This state of things began to be felt in mid-sum- 

 mer, when it was too late for such as had land to 



cultivate it. Mr. Russel was caught with the rest. ' constantly, and a part of the time several persons, 

 He had sold off a part of his flxrm, but he had many in packing the baskets. The baskets, as soon as 

 acres left. Winter came on with flour at twelve picked and examined, are packed into boxes of dif- 

 doUars a barrel, corn one dollar fifty cents a bushel, ' "" " ~ - - 



and potatoes a dollar and a quarter, and his cellar 

 and garret both empty, and work hardly to be had 

 if to be done for nothing. He had laid up some 



lock's being one of the principal plantations. 



The pickers were in the fields with their baskets 

 between eight and nine o'clock in the morning, as 

 soon as the dew was off" the plants, as the berries 

 do not keep so well when picked wet. 



In a short time the ])ickers liegan to bring in the 

 baskets of berries. These baskets hold about a 

 pint, and are very neat looking, being made of ml- 

 low, and much superior to the baskets in which 



There were about fifty pickers at work, men, wo- 

 men and children, the women being the most ex- 

 pert pickers of course. One person was employed 



ferent sizes, according to the crop of that day. The 

 object of putting them into boxes is to ensure their 

 safe transit to the market, and in order to do this, 

 the packer has to work carefully to fit the baskets in 

 money, but by the time spring opened he couldj so that each one braces the other ; when the boxes 



