The  Progress  of  Fruit  Farming. 
375 
It  must  be  asked,  seeing  that  the  British  cultivator  has  these 
advantages,  whether  he  lacks  energy  and  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise, or  capital  ? Or  is  it  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  English 
land  laws  that  he  does  not  adapt  his  modes  and  systems  to 
meet  altered  and  altering  circumstances,  like  the  Continental  and 
the  American  farmers?  Not  only  are  the  French,  the  Belgians, 
and  the  Germans,  increasing  the  area  of  fruit-land,  and  im- 
proving their  methods  of  cultivation,  but  the  Americans  are 
also  planting  fruit,  and  are  adopting,  with  characteristic  zeal, 
new  and  improved  systems  of  packing  and  preserving  it.  In 
the  Report  of  the  American  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  for 
1878,  it  is  stated  that  there  were  more  than  two  millions  of 
acres  under  cultivation  as  apple-orchards,  and  that  in  twenty 
years  the  value  of  the  products  had  increased  from  1,320,000Z. 
to  over  10,000,000Z.  “ The  abundance  of  the  fruit-crop,”  the 
Commissioner  writes,  “ is  one  of  the  most  gratifying  results  of 
the  progress  of  agriculture  in  this  country.  The  demand  for 
fruit  in  the  markets  at  home  and  abroad  has  been  equal  to  and 
is  increasing  with  the  supply.  The  prices  have  been  generally 
remunerative  both  to  the  grower  and  the  dealer,  and  yet  low 
enough  to  be  within  the  reach  of  all.  The  daily  use  of  fruit  as 
food  by  our  people  is  greatly  to  be  desired.”  * Besides  apples 
and  many  other  small  fruits,  the  peach-crop  of  the  United 
States  is  estimated  at  the  annual  value  of  11,500,000Z.  ; so  that 
it  is  not  surprising  that  there  is  occasionally  a superabundance  of 
fruit,  especially  of  peaches  and  apples,  upon  which  pigs  are  fed. 
This  waste  has  been  in  a great  degree  obviated  by  the  ingenuity 
of  the  Americans  in  preserving  the  fruits  and  drying  them.  At 
Baltimore  particularly,  as  well  as  in  other  cities  which  are 
centres  for  the  accumulation  of  fruit,  large  establishments  have 
been  built  and  furnished  with  the  most  improved  machinery 
and  appliances  for  the  rapid  drying  and  evaporation  of  the 
watery  parts  of  fruits.  By  an  ingenious  process  the  water  is 
slowly  separated  from  the  solid  parts,  which  at  the  same  time 
undergo  a chemical  change,  the  acid  and  the  starch  being  con- 
verted into  grape-sugar.  The  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  in 
the  Report  alluded  to  says  of  this : “ The  proof  of  the  pudding 
is  in  the  eating,  and  it  is  said  that  an  apple-pie  made  from  fruit 
evaporated  by  these  processes  cannot  be  distinguished  from  one 
made  from  fresh  fruit,  and  yet  only  one-half  of  the  quantity  of 
sugar  is  required  to  sweeten  it ; and  the  same  fact  is  true  in 
regard  to  tomatoes,  and  all  fruits  and  vegetables.”  f 
* ‘ Animal  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  1878.’ 
+ Op.  cit.,  p.  385. 
