18 
G. H. J. H. HALE’S CATALOGUE OF 
To the Maw who has “ No Time to Fuss with Berries." 
How often (especially on the farm, where there should be an abundance of 
choicest fruits the year around) do we hear the ladies of the family say, “ Our men 
folks say it’s cheaper to buy what fruit we want than to try and grow it, and they 
will gladly pay for all we want to eat if we will not ask them to plant and care 
for a small fruit patch.” And these poor misguided men think they have done 
their duty to wife and loved ones dependent on them, when they have paid for a 
quart or two of strawberries a day through the season, and a few raspberries or 
blackberries for canning ; when the truth is the family have not had one-twentieth 
part of what they ought to have had, or would have used greatly to their health 
and comfort, could it have been had for the picking fresh from the well-stocked 
family fruit patch, which should be planted out in the open field, in as long rows 
as possible, so that most of the labor of keeping it free from weeds can be done 
with the horse and cultivator. 
Thus a patch fifteen rods long by six wide would allow of three matted rows 
of strawberries four feet apart. One row extra early, one medium, and one late 
ripening, would give an abundant supply for a large family for nearly six weeks. 
Six feet from these plant one row of early black caps, which will begin to ripen 
before the strawberries are gone; one row of late black caps, two of red rasp¬ 
berries, one each of early and late; one row of yellow raspberries, one of 
currants, one Lucretia dewberry, one of blackberries, all six feet apart; and 
three rows of grapes, ten feet apart, will give a daily supply of fresh fruit for 
more than six months in the year, and each variety will furnish a surplus in the 
height of its season, which, if properly preserved in glass, can be made to answer 
the purpose of fresh fruit the rest of the year, and indigestible pie and cake 
be banished forever from the family table, and thus bring health and happiness 
to all the family, and poor tired “mother” be saved from many hours of weary 
work in the hot kitchen on baking days. 
Such a family half acre, after it is once established, would cost no more to 
care for than one acre of corn, the crop of which may be worth <530 to 5540 for 
your hogs and other animals; while at low market rates the berry patch would 
yield $150 worth of choice fruit, for the health, comfort, and happiness of your 
families. 
Farmers, with acres and acres of waste or uncultivated land, is it possible 
that you care more for your pigs, cows, and horses, than for wife, mother, and 
children? If so, why not go out and live with them? Your family can and 
should have the best of everything that it is possible for the soil to produce, and they 
will have it, too, when you awaken from the groundless delusion you have so long 
labored under, that “ it is cheaper to buy what little fruit your family wants than 
to grow it.” It never was true, and you know and they know^w* never did and 
never will buy them all they could use, and the only way to make sure of it is to 
grow it yourself, “quarts that you buy are so small;” but the fine, large, fully 
ripe berries from your own grounds will soon convince you that “ fine fruits are 
the flower of all the products of the earth—blessings designed to please the eye 
and gratify the taste; to multiply our comforts and elevate our social and moral 
condition. The culture of fruits indicates refinement. Their use as food tends 
to a healthy and refined temperament, both of mind and body; and hence 
should be esteemed necessaries rather than luxuries. It is therefore our duty to 
improve and increase these bounties to their utmost extent.” 
