16 
PICTORIAL CULTIVATOR ALMANAC. 
fL. 
Downing says that “ fine fruit is the most perfect union of the use¬ 
ful and beautiful, that earth knows.’ 7 It is alike the luxury of 
prince and peasant—of the President and the pathmaster. If we 
include pumpkins and watermelons, it is the cheapest kind of food. 
Nothing is more wholesome than well ripened fruit, in moderate 
quantities. Many words, however, are not wanted, to convince any 
one of the excellence or deliciousness of fruit, if we can only pre¬ 
sent him a dish of apricots, or a quart of strawberries and cream. 
Economy or Fruit. —Every mamvlio keeps a good 
supply of stewing and baking apples, of his own raising, 
saves a great many hard dollars yearly, otherwise to be 
paid to the miller or butcher. Or, if he raises his own 
meat and grain, an equal amount is thus reserved for 
market. Then, what a valuable addition to the com¬ 
fort, variety, and luxury of the table ! By the first of 
summer, the thick trusses of strawberries begin to red¬ 
den in the sun; and half a dozen quarts of this melting 
crimson fruit may be had each day for the table, from 
as many half-rod beds. Cherries, currants, and rasp¬ 
berries, continue through the first half of summer, fol¬ 
lowed by early, juicy apples; rich, bloom-dusted plums; 
golden, perfumed apricots; and buttery and melting- 
pears. 
Now, we do not say, as some most mistakenly remark, 
that this fine and delicious supply costs nothing after 
the trees are planted; for good fruit cannot be relied 
on, unless the ground is well cultivated and manured. 
But it does not cost half so much to cultivate an acre 
of fruit, as an acre of potatoes or corn; while the 
amount obtained is greater than either; and all ready 
for the table, without going through the process which 
the grain crop requires, of threshing, and winnowing, 
and grinding, and kneading, and baking. 
By planting rich, high-flavored apples, for stewing and 
for pies, instead of poor and insipid ones, each family 
may save fifty or a hundred, or two hundred pounds of 
sugar annually, in sweetening and spices. A friend 
of ours finds it cheaper to buy good fall pippins for fifty 
cents a bushel, than poor sorts sold as “ cooking ap¬ 
ples,” for fifteen cents a bushel. He uses the Talman 
Sweetings largely, for baking and for puddings, and 
thinks that an Indian apple pudding, made by this na¬ 
tural sweetening, the cheapest and best pudding in the 
world. He estimates that he saves from $75 to $100 
annually in the cost of his table, by his fruit. 
Fruit tor Market. —The man who wishes to make 
a business of marketing 'fruit, and obtain a regular 
yearly income, must plant many kinds. Some kinds 
will succeed best this year, and others next. An ac¬ 
quaintance in western New-York sold, in 1849, twenty- 
five hundred dollars worth of peaches from about 12 
acres. Fruit was scarce that year, and peaches sold at 
a high price. A large cultivator of the grape, on the 
Hudson, sells sometimes $5000 or $6000 worth of grapes. 
Richard J. Hand, of Monroe co., N. Y., sold in 1845, 
$440 worth of Northern Spy and Roxbury Russet ap¬ 
ples from one acre . Now, a general assortment of the 
best kinds of fruit, will be likely to furnish every year, 
with good culture, one or more highly profitable crops. 
