No. 4.] FRUITS FOR LOCAL MARKETS. 61 



high ; it can be grown in valley lands, where the frost would 

 kill raspberries entirely ; and on high land, too, and will ob- 

 tain moisture. Prior to a dozen or fifteen years ago black- 

 berries were the most profital)le of all our small fruits, and 

 they began to be less in demand ; and of late years for a time 

 the early peaches from the south seriously interfered with 

 the sale of the blackberry, and there was quite a dropping 

 out of the blackberry in the market, until people began to 

 get hungry for them, and they were brought from the south, 

 and then the local growers started in growing them again, 

 and to-day there is nothing in small fruit culture that has 

 more promise of profit than the blackberry. It is a splendid 

 opening. It can be grown with moderate expense, and you 

 can increase it with the same methods as applied to the rasp- 

 berry. But you want the right variety. Some of the big- 

 gest, which look the best and sell the best the first time, 

 won't sell at all the 'second time, because too sour. Some 

 of the varieties begin to turn red as soon as they are picked ; 

 then some of them grow sour, and they are disappointing. 

 But there are a few kinds that Avill stay black after they are 

 picked, and are of high quality, and the people will want 

 more and more ; and they can be marketed in quarts. 



Currants and gooseberries : gooseberries will grow almost 

 anywhere in New England, if you give them a fair chance, 

 and if you live in a town where there are English and Scotch 

 people you can grow them to a profit ; but Yankees and Ger- 

 mans don't seem to want them very nuich. They are very 

 profitable indeed where you have the market, because they 

 can be grown for such a small cost, and yield so enormously ; 

 rather prickly to pick, but profitable. As for currants, there 

 isn't one-tenth enough currant bushes in Massachusetts or 

 New England to-day to supply the people, and yet ten years 

 ago there were too many. People didn't want them all then, 

 as they want them now. Then there was an overplanting, an 

 oversupply twenty years ago, and the price went down, and 

 currants disappeared ; but now there is a splendid market for 

 local or Boston growers. They need spraying to strengthen 

 the foliage ; and Bordeaux mixture seems to be one of the 

 best things to be used, also the lime and sulphur mixture, 



