No. 4.J FEUITS FOR LOCAL MARICETS. 49 



FEUITS FOR LOCAL MARKETS. 



BY J. H. HALE, SOUTH GLASTONBURY, CONN. 



I have been asked to come here and talk about fruits for 

 local markets. That subject cannot be taken up directly 

 without first saying a word about the general question of 

 fruit production and marketing. A few years ago, in the 

 early days of my attending the meetings of this Board and 

 other agricultural associations, whenever any discussion was 

 taken up, fruit was considered as a luxury, something to be 

 used as an occasional dessert or as a general luxury for the 

 children ; but of late years we have come to look upon fruit 

 as one of the most suitable articles of human food, and, as 

 the years have gone by and we have consumed more of it 

 and understood it better, we have come to see that it is the 

 one great source of food supply that comes to us pure and 

 unadulterated. When the fruit is fully developed on the 

 tree or plant or vine, it is in its best possible state for human 

 nourishment, and nearly all our other foods have to go 

 through some milling, killing or cooking process before they 

 are suitable for food ; so the good housewife, who wants to 

 be relieved from the burdens of life as much as she can, or 

 ought, has learned that fruit will do away with a great deal 

 of what in the past seemed a necessary making of puddings 

 and pies and pastries. Fruit is being substituted more and 

 more as an every-day source of food. 



Then, again, there are no longer "seasons" in fruit. 

 Years ajjo there used to be a "fruit season" of the straw- 

 berry, the raspberry, the blackberry, the apple or the grape ; 

 now there are no more seasons. The consolidation of the 

 great railroad lines and refrigerator car service has done 

 away in a large measure with the fruit seasons. We com- 



