The Fruit Garden. 



there are exiles from country homes and country life in the city who 

 have been swept down not by evil but the dark tides of disaster, poverty 

 and disease, and to such it is a privilege as well as a pleasure to send gifts 

 that will tend to revive hope and courage. That we may often avail 

 ourselves of these gracious opportunities of giving the equivalent of a 

 " cup of cold water," we should plant fruits and flowers in abundance. 



14- 



. ; |H^ I 



The New York Flower and Fruit Mission. A Gift of Strawberries. 



One of the sad features of our time is the tendency of young people 

 to leave their country homes. And too often one does not need to look 

 far for the reason. Life at the farm-house sinks into deep ruts, and becomes 

 weary plodding. There are too many "one-ideaed" farmers and farms. 

 It is corn, potatoes, wheat, butter or milk. The staple production absorbs 

 all thought and everything else is neglected. Nature demands that young 

 people should have variety, and furnishes it in abundance, The stolid 

 farmer too often ignores nature and the cravings of youth, and insists on 

 the heavy monotonous work of his specialty, early and late, the year 

 around, and then wonders why in his declining years there are no- 



