STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETV. 155 



FEWER ACRES OF SMALL FRUIT— MORE FRUIT TO 



THE ACRE. 



By P. C. Reynolds, Rochester, N. Y. 



[From Report of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, 18S6.] 



Very general complaint has come from nearl3' all sections of the 

 couutr}- where small fruits are produced for market, that prices the 

 past season were unremunerative. Such being the case, one of two 

 alternatives seems to be indicated, namely : the reduction of volume 

 of products or the diminution of its cost. It is a very ditflcult mat- 

 ter for fruit growers, scattered as they are over a wide area, to com- 

 bine to reduce production. The orderly operation of the laws of 

 trade and production have a tendency to diminish production when 

 excessive, but combination rarely does. The prices of small fruits 

 are destined, I believe, to rule low in the future, and growers will be 

 wise to adapt their business to that condition ot things. With un- 

 limited land and labor for production, the amount pi'oduced will be 

 likely to increase quite as fast as population. The proper way to 

 cheapen production, in my opinion, is l3y producing more per acre. 

 Every grower can do this for himself without the necessity of com- 

 bination or co-operation. 



Small-fruit growing used to be considered a branch of horticulture. 

 Recently many have conducted it as if it belonged to agriculture. The 

 result is not surprising. The liorticulturist aims to grow large quan- 

 tities of produce on small areas of land by means of heavy manuring 

 and high culture, the agriculturist spreads his operations over broad 

 areas of soil, which he cultivates enough to enable the roots of crops 

 to spread through the soil, without serious obstruction, in search of 

 adequate supplies of suitable food and to prevent weeds from obtain- 

 ing such growth as to overcome the plants he is seeking to grow. 

 The horticulturist seeks a small tract of garden soil, near a town or 

 city, where he can have an abundance of fertilizers, laborers of the 

 right kind, and where proximity to market enables him to deliver 

 his products, from da}' to da}', fresh to consumers. 



Now, it seems to me that too many small-fruitgrowers have within 

 :a few years come to adopting the methods of the agriculturist 

 rather than those of the horticulturist. They have planted their 

 fruits in fields instead of gardens ; they have manured as if for farm 



