136 Too much Fruit, again. 



TOO MUCH FRUIT, AGAIN. 



By J. M. Merrick, Jun., Walpole, Mass. 



The fear is sometimes expressed that the present mania (as it is termed) 

 for fruit-growing will lead to the business being overdone, and that we 

 shall have a plethora of fruit. We believe that there will be little danger 

 for years to come \ and we can generally pose any one who thinks we shall 

 have too much fruit, by asking him a very simple question ; viz., How many 

 families are there, whose habits and circumstances you know, that enjoy 

 an abundant supply of fruit through the year ? Understand what we mean 

 by an abundant supply. We mean so much that every member of the 

 family has a fair allowance of strawberries, then of cherries, currants, and 

 raspberries, followed by melons, peaches (when they can be had), pears, 

 and grapes, with apples of various kinds, from September till June. His 

 answer at first is ready. Not one family in five hundred ; for, at the pres- 

 ent prices, a man must be a millionnaire to indulge in fruit at such a rate 

 as you name. 



Well, then, we will modify our question. How many families do you 

 know, who live in the country, and have, with land and means enough, an 

 abundant supply of fruit ? 



If honest, we think that our witness will say, in nine cases out of ten, not 

 one family in fifty. Then we argue that the danger of raising too much 

 fruit is not half so alarming as is the disgrace of not raising fruit enough. 



Let each of our readers ask himself how many families he can count — 

 always supposing them to own land enough, and to have means to cul- 

 tivate it — who know what it is to have on the table, winter and summer, 

 an abundant supply of choice fruit. How many have a fraction of what 

 they could eat and enjoy ? 



He will find the number small indeed, unless he is more fortunate in the 

 circle of his acquaintances than we are \ and the moral that should impress 

 itself on his mind is. Keep on planting, and wait for proof when you hear 

 stories about too much fruit. 



We have sometimes heard the remark made by people looking over a 

 nursery catalogue, where vines and pear-trees are advertised by the ten 



