THE NEW AGRICULTURE 201 



" to oblige " at the various farms, but not regularly delivered 

 even in the village centers. These berries compete with 

 Boston berries, two quarts for a quarter, which are sold at the 

 village provision store, or will be delivered within reasonable 

 limits. Result: the village store is stocked with city prod- 

 uce. Naturally it takes the easier and steadier source of 

 supply ; and yet this very township could not for a moment 

 be described as the " hilly, stony, exhausted margin of culti- 

 vation." Quite the reverse ; it is a country where, nearly 

 every year, excellent apples rot on the ground, and where 

 blackberries and raspberries hang shriveling on the bushes, 

 or fall, dead-ripe, for lack of picking. Meanwhile, the scat- 

 tered farmers, land-poor, drudge from dawn till dusk to make 

 both ends meet. 



At first, one is always puzzled to explain why this stream 

 of " green groceries " invariably flows in one direction, coun- 

 tryward, and in a direction exactly contrary to what might 

 be called the natural laws of economic gravitation. But the 

 grade of country produce explains this. Quality, after all, is 

 the thing, and far back in the country this is rarely high 

 enough to bring the fancy prices which would cover trans- 

 portation ; and, of course, rates which a railroad might make 

 for an association of growers would by no chance be offered 

 to the single farmer. Little wonder that there is depression 

 in farming circles. 



The cure of any trouble, whether local or national, is 

 often best reached by looking beyond our own borders. So 

 let us turn our attention for a moment to the present agri- 

 cultural situation in Europe. The Man with the Hoe is 

 fortunately not an American product, and yet who shall 

 say that he cannot teach us something ? Surely the story 

 of his uplift may act upon our own countrymen as a much- 

 needed tonic, for many an economic danger which has 



