THE EDITOR'S OUTLOOK. 



" A moment's reflection will recall to mind how few 

 and meagre are the practicable means of recreation 

 for the children of the poor in our populous cities 

 and towns. Existing facilities apparently bountiful 

 in their provisions and generally accessible at small 

 cost are nevertheless but rarely availed of, for the 

 want of these means, small as they are, or the op- 

 portunity of time to avail of the pleasure and re- 

 creation which they were intended to afford. This 

 is particularly true of large cities where, in conse- 

 quence, it is exceptionally desirable that small 

 neighborhood areas simply designed should be pro- 

 vided for. All are familiar with the narrow and 

 imperfectly cleaned streets of considerable portions 

 of most of our cities : of dilapidated dwellings unfit 

 for occupancy ; of more ambitious structures for 

 tenements over-crowded, illy-ventilated and badly 

 sewered, wherein it is the fate of the young in large 

 numbers to live during the most critical period of 

 life when pure air, exercise and wholesome food are 

 essential to the development into healthy men and 

 women of the future." 



There is reason enough for the existence of such 

 a society, and its appeal should meet with response 

 from every citizen. It is a work of greatest moment 

 to the larger cities, and yet its influence should be 

 felt in every village and hamlet. Much of the full- 

 ness of life comes from a sympathetic contact with 

 nature, and a child which has the freedom of open 

 air, and trees and flowers, must gain therefrom the 

 first elements of hope and culture. Our children 

 need gardens and sunshine ; and they need them 

 quite as much for the development of the heart as 

 for the body. 



But even as a business venture — if one chooses 

 to measure the movement more narrowly — parks 

 and city openings are important : "It has been 

 demonstrated beyond peradventure in the large cities 

 of the country in which public parks now exist, that 

 their establishment, including both the original pur- 

 chase and cost of construction, has resulted in se- 

 curing the valuable and attractive feature -of the 

 city's resources, enlarged its means of attracting 

 people to it as permanent dwellers ; and as well, by 

 increasing the value of widely-extended areas of 

 property contiguous to such parks, has added a val- 

 uable resource in the way of income due to such 

 beneficent influence. It is therefore undeniable 

 that all efforts would be justified that tend to secure 

 grounds to be devoted to such purpose, whether in 

 city, town or village, and whether for immediate 

 improvement or to await the time when such devel- 

 opment might be more practicable." 



The Brooklyn society has undertaken a great 

 labor, and its largeness is a measure of its value. 

 It has secured the passage of a State law by which 

 any fifteen persons can associate themselves into 

 an incorporated organization, with large powers, 

 for the control and management of lands and funds 

 for this good work with children. Its influence 

 must eventually extend beyond the city to the school 

 and from there to the home. 



* 



THE FRUIT T^HE fruit exchanges have occa- 

 EXCHANGE. sioned much perplexity in 



many cases, both among growers 

 and consumers, and there is a very general feeling 

 that for most purposes they are a failure. If this 

 opinion is correct it means nothing less than admit- 

 ting that business methods cannot be so well ap- 

 plied to fruit-growing as to other interests. The 

 results sought by the fruit exchange are simply 

 those which accrue from selling produce at the best 

 time, at the best place and in the best way. It is 

 only putting into corporate form, for the good of 

 many, the experience which has been the best for 

 any individual. There is every reason to believe 

 that the fruit exchanges must ultimately be the me- 

 dium through which at least the bulk of the pro- 

 duce of every large fruit-growing region must pass 

 on its way to the consumer. It simply provides for 

 division of labor, and insures a return to the 

 grower, in a business which is constantly becoming 

 more complex, and in which, therefore, the risks 

 are increasing. In discussing the causes of depres- 

 sion of agricultural interest, it is well to remember 

 that lack of business methods on the part of the 

 farmer has contributed an important share. 



And this lack of business method is just the cause 

 of the failure of the fruit exchanges themselves. It 

 usually appears as half -heartedness, a fear to grasp 

 the problems boldly. Mere agreement rarely ac- 

 complishes any good. Mr. Morrill's rehearsal upon 

 a previous page illustrates this fact. As a rule, 

 good results can come only from a definite organi- 

 zation under the laws of the State for the particular 

 purpose of transacting business. The horticultural 

 society exists for purposes of instruction and enter- 

 tainment, and its objects are foreign to that of the 

 fruit exchange. The two are stronger when sepa- 

 rate, although one may help the other. No ques- 

 tion is more vital to the fruit-grower than the eco- 

 nomical and expeditious marketing of his fruit, and 

 our discussion in this and the next issue must en- 

 lighten the subject. 



