Success With Small Fruits

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Of course, there is little hope for the rural soul that "loathes" the
light manna of small fruits. We must leave it to evolution for another
cycle or two. But, as already indicated, we believe that humanity in
the main has reached a point where its internal organs highly approve
of the delicious group of fruits that strayed out of Paradise, and
have not yet lost themselves among the "thorns and thistles." Indeed,
modern skill--the alchemy of our age--has wrought such wonders that
Eden is possible again to all who will take the trouble to form Eden-
like tastes and capacities.

The number who are doing this is increasing every year, The large
demand for literature relating to out-of-door life, horticultural
journals, like the fruits of which they treat, flourishing in regions
new and remote, are proof of this. The business of supplying fruit-
trees, plants, and even flowers, is becoming a vast industry. I have
been informed that one enterprising firm annually spends thousands in
advertising roses only.

But while we welcome the evidences that so many are ceasing to be
bucolic heathen, much observation has shown that the need of further
enlightenment is large indeed. It is depressing to think of the number
of homes about which fruits are conspicuous only by their absence--
homes of every class, from the laborer's cottage and pioneer's cabin
to the suburban palace. Living without books and pictures is only a
little worse than living in the country without fruits and flowers. We
must respect to some extent the old ascetics, who, in obedience to
mistaken ideas of duty, deprived themselves of the good things God
provided, even while we recognize the stupidity of such a course.
Little children are rarely so lacking in sense as to try to please
their father by contemptuously turning away from his best gifts, or by
treating them with indifference. Why do millions live in the country,
year after year, raising weeds and brambles, or a few coarse
vegetables, when the choicest fruits would grow almost as readily?
They can plead no perverted sense of duty.

It is a question hard to answer. Some, perhaps, have the delusion that
fine small fruits are as difficult to raise as orchids. They class
them with hot-house grapes. Others think they need so little attention
that they can stick a few plants in hard, poor ground and leave them
to their fate. One might as well try to raise canary-birds and kittens
together as strawberries and weeds. There is a large class who believe
in small fruits, and know their value. They enjoy them amazingly at a
friend's table, and even buy some when they are cheap., A little
greater outlay and a little intelligent effort would give them an
abundant supply from their own grounds. In a vague way they are aware
of this, and reproach themselves for their negligence, but time passes
and there is no change for the better. Why? I don't know. There are
men who rarely kiss their wives and children. For them the birds sing
unheeded and even unheard; flowers become mere objects, and sunsets
suggest only "quitting time." In theory they believe in all these
things. What can be said of them save that they simply jog on to-day
as they did yesterday, ever dimly hoping at some time or other "to
live up to their privileges"? But they usually go on from bad to
worse, until, like their neglected strawberry-beds, they are "turned
under."

In cities not a hundred miles from my farm there are abodes of wealth
with spacious grounds, where, in many instances, scarcely any place is
found for small fruits. "It is cheaper and easier to buy them," it is
said. This is a sorry proof of civilization. There is no economy in
the barbaric splendor of brass buttons and livery, but merely a little
trouble (I doubt about money) is saved on the choicest luxuries of the
year. The idea of going out of their rural paradises to buy half-stale
fruit! But this class is largely at the mercy of the "hired man," or
his more disagreeable development, the pretentious smatterer, who, so
far from possessing the knowledge that the English, Scotch, or German
gardeners acquire in their long, thorough training, is a compound of
ignorance and prejudice. To hide his barrenness of mind he gives his
soul to rare plants, clipped lawns, but stints the family in all
things save his impudence. If he tells his obsequious employers that
it is easier and cheaper to buy their fruit than to raise it, of
course there is naught to do but go to the market and pick up what
they can; and yet Dr. Thurber says, with a vast deal of force, that
"the unfortunate people who buy their fruit do not know what a
strawberry is."

In all truth and soberness it is a marvel and a shame that so many
sane people who profess to have passed beyond the habits of the
wilderness will not give the attention required by these unexacting
fruits. The man who has learned to write his name can learn to raise
them successfully. The ladies who know how to keep their homes neat
through the labors of their "intelligent help," could also learn to
manage a fruit garden even though employing the stupidest oaf that
ever blundered through life. The method is this: First learn how
yourself, and then let your laborer thoroughly understand that he gets
no wages unless he does as he is told. In the complicated details of a
plant farm there is much that needs constant supervision, but the work
of an ordinary fruit garden is, in the main, straightforward and
simple. The expenditure of a little time, money, and, above all
things, of seasonable labor, is so abundantly repaid that one would
think that bare self-interest would solve invariably the simple
problem of supply.

As mere articles of food, these fruits are exceedingly valuable. They
are capable of sustaining severe and continued labor. For months
together we might become almost independent of butcher and doctor if
we made our places produce all that nature permits. Purple grapes will
hide unsightly buildings; currants, raspberries, and blackberries will
grow along the fences and in the corners that are left to burdocks and
brambles. I have known invalids to improve from the first day that
berries were brought to the table, and thousands would exchange their
sallow complexions, sick headaches, and general ennui for a breezy
interest in life and its abounding pleasures, if they would only take
nature's palpable hint, and enjoy the seasonable food she provides.
Belles can find better cosmetics in the fruit garden than on their
toilet tables, and she who paints her cheeks with the pure, healthful
blood that is made from nature's choicest gifts, and the exercise of
gathering them, can give her lover a kiss that will make him wish for
another.

The famous Dr. Hosack, of New York City, who attended Alexander
Hamilton after he received his fatal wound from Burr, was an
enthusiast on the subject of fruits. It was his custom to terminate
his spring course of lectures with a strawberry festival. "I must let
the class see," he said, "that we are practical as well as
theoretical. Linnaeus cured his gout and protracted his life by eating
strawberries."

"They are a dear article," a friend remarked, "to gratify the
appetites of so many."

"Yes, indeed," replied the doctor, "but from our present mode of
culture they will become cheap."

It is hard to realize how scarce this fruit was sixty or seventy years
ago, but the prediction of the sagacious physician has been verified
even beyond his imagination. Strawberries are raised almost as
abundantly as potatoes, and for a month or more can be eaten as a
cheap and wholesome food by all classes, even the poorest. By a proper
selection of varieties we, in our home, feast upon them six weeks
together, and so might the majority of those whose happy lot is cast
in the country. The small area of a city yard planted with a few
choice kinds will often yield surprising returns under sensible
culture.

If we cultivate these beautiful and delicious fruits we always have
the power of giving pleasure to others, and he's a churl and she a
pale reflection of Xantippe who does not covet this power. The faces
of our guests brighten as they snuff from afar the delicate aroma. Our
vines can furnish gifts that our friends will ever welcome; and by
means of their products we can pay homage to genius that will be far
more grateful than commonplace compliments. I have seen a letter from
the Hon. Wm. C. Bryant, which is a rich return for the few
strawberries that were sent to him, and the thought that they gave him
pleasure gives the donor far more. They are a gift that one can bestow
and another take without involving any compromise on either side,
since they belong to the same category as smiles, kind words, and the
universal freemasonry of friendship. Faces grow radiant over a basket
of fruit or flowers that would darken with anger at other gifts.

If, in the circle of our acquaintance, there are those shut up to the
weariness and heavy atmosphere of a sick-room, in no way can we send a
ray of sunlight athwart their pallid faces more effectually than by
placing a basket of fragrant fruit on the table beside them. Even
though the physician may render it "forbidden fruit," their eyes will
feast upon it, and the aroma will teach them that the world is not
passing on, unheeding and uncaring whether they live or die.

The Fruit and Flower Mission of New York is engaged in a beautiful and
most useful charity. Into tenement-houses and the hot close wards of
city hospitals, true sisters of mercy of the one Catholic church of
love and kindness carry the fragrant emblems of an Eden that was lost,
but may be regained even by those who have wandered farthest from its
beauty and purity. Men and women, with faces seemingly hardened and
grown rigid under the impress of vice, that but too correctly reveal
the coarse and brutal nature within, often become wistful and tender
over some simple flower or luscious fruit that recalls earlier and
happier days. These are gifts which offend no prejudices, and
inevitably suggest that which is good, sweet, wholesome and pure. For
a moment, at least, and perhaps forever, they may lead stained and
debased creatures to turn their faces heavenward. There are little
suffering children also in the hospitals; there are exiles from
country homes and country life in the city who have been swept down
not by evil but the dark tides of disaster, poverty, and disease, and
to such it is a privilege as well as a pleasure to send gifts that
will tend to revive hope and courage. That we may often avail
ourselves of these gracious opportunities of giving the equivalent of
a "cup of cold water," we should plant fruits and flowers in
abundance.

One of the sad features of our time is the tendency of young people to
leave their country homes. And too often one does not need to look far
for the reason. Life at the farm-house sinks into deep ruts, and
becomes weary plodding. There are too many "one-ideaed" farmers and
farms. It is corn, potatoes, wheat, butter, or milk. The staple
production absorbs all thought and everything else is neglected.
Nature demands that young people should have variety, and furnishes it
in abundance. The stolid farmer too often ignores nature and the
cravings of youth, and insists on the heavy monotonous work of his
specialty, early and late, the year around, and then wonders why in
his declining years there are no strong young hands to lighten his
toil. The boy who might have lived a sturdy, healthful, independent
life among his native hills is a bleached and sallow youth measuring
ribbons and calicoes behind a city counter. The girl who might have
been the mistress of a tree-shadowed country house disappears under
much darker shadows in town. But for their early home life, so meagre
and devoid of interest, they might have breathed pure air all their
days.

Not the least among the means of making a home attractive would be a
well-maintained fruit garden. The heart and the stomach have been
found nearer together by the metaphysicians than the physiologists,
and if the "house-mother," as the Germans say, beamed often at her
children over a great dish of berries flanked by a pitcher of
unskimmed milk, not only good blood and good feeling would be
developed, but something that the poets call "early ties."

There is one form of gambling or speculation that, within proper
limits, is entirely innocent and healthful--the raising of new
seedling fruits and the testing of new varieties. In these pursuits
the elements of chance, skill, and judgment enter so evenly that they
are an unfailing source of pleasurable excitement. The catalogues of
plant, tree, and seed dealers abound in novelties. The majority of
them cannot endure the test of being grown by the side of our well-
known standard kinds, but now and then an exceedingly valuable
variety, remarkable for certain qualities or peculiarly adapted to
special localities and uses, is developed. There is not only an
unfailing pleasure in making these discoveries, but often a large
profit. If, three or four years ago, a country boy had bought a dozen
Sharpless strawberry plants, and propagated from them, he might now
obtain several hundred dollars from their increased numbers. Time only
can show whether this novelty will become a standard variety, but at
present the plants are in great demand.

The young people of a country home may become deeply interested in
originating new seedlings. A thousand strawberry seeds will produce a
thousand new kinds, and, although the prospects are that none of them
will equal those now in favor, something very fine and superior may be
obtained. Be this as it may, if these simple natural interests prevent
boys and girls from being drawn into the maelstrom of city life until
character is formed, each plant will have a value beyond silver or
gold.

One of the supreme rewards of human endeavor is a true home, and
surely it is as stupid as it is wrong to neglect some of the simplest
and yet most effectual means of securing this crown of earthly life. A
home is the product of many and varied causes, but I have yet to see
the man who will deny that delicious small fruits for eight months of
the year, and the richer pleasure even of cultivating and gathering
them, may become one of the chief contributions to this result. I use
the words "eight months" advisedly, for even now, January 29, we are
enjoying grapes that were buried in the ground last October. I suppose
my children are very material and unlike the good little people who do
not live long, but they place a white mark against the days on which
we unearth a jar of grapes.

CHAPTER III

SMALL FRUIT FARMING AND ITS PROFITS

A farm without a fruit garden may justly be regarded as proof of a low
state of civilization in the farmer. No country home should be without
such simple means of health and happiness. For obvious reasons,
however, there is not, and never can be, the same room for fruit
raising as there is for grain, grass, and stock farming. Nevertheless,
the opportunities to engage with profit in this industry on a large
scale are increasing every year. From being a luxury of a few, the
small fruits have become an article of daily food to the million. Even
the country village must have its supply, and the number of crates
that are shipped from New York city to neighboring towns is
astonishingly large. As an illustration of the rapidly enlarging
demand for these fruits, let us consider the experience of one Western
city, Cincinnati. Mr. W. H. Corbly, who is there regarded as one of
the best informed on these subjects, has gathered the following
statistics: "In 1835 it was regarded as a most wonderful thing that
100 bushels of strawberries could be disposed of on the Cincinnati
market in one day, and was commented on as a great event. A close
estimate shows that during the summer of 1879 eighty to eighty-five
thousand bushels of strawberries were sold in Cincinnati. Of course, a
large part of these berries were shipped away, but it is estimated
that nearly one half were consumed here. About the year 1838 the
cultivation of black raspberries was commenced in this county by James
Gallagher and F. A. McCormick of Salem, Anderson township. The first
year, Gallagher's largest shipment in one day was six bushels, and
McCormick's four. When they were placed on the market, McCormick sold
out at 6 1/4 cents per quart, and Gallagher held off till McCormick
had sold out, when he put his on sale and obtained 8 1/8 cents per
quart, and the demand was fully supplied. It is estimated that the
crop for the year 1879, handled in Cincinnati, amounted to from
seventy-five thousand to eighty thousand bushels--the crop being a
fairly good one--selling at an average of about two dollars per
bushel." It has been stated in "The Country Gentleman" that about
$5,000,000 worth of small fruits were sold in Michigan in one year;
and the same authority estimates that $25,000,000 worth are consumed
annually in New York city. In the future it would seem that this
demand would increase even more rapidly; for in every fruit-growing
region immense canning establishments are coming into existence, to
which the markets of the world are open. Therefore, in addition to the
thousands already embarked in this industry, still larger numbers will
engage in it during the next few years.

Those who now for the first time are turning their attention toward
this occupation may be divided mainly into two classes. The first
consists of established farmers, who, finding markets within their
reach, extend their patches of raspberries, currants, or strawberries
to such a degree that they have a surplus to sell. To the extent that
such sales are remunerative, they increase the area of fruits, until
in many instances they become virtually fruit farmers. More often a
few acres are devoted to horticulture, and the rest of the farm is
carried on in the old way.

The second class is made up chiefly of those who are unfamiliar with
the soil and its culture--mechanics, professional men, who hope to
regain health by coming back to nature, and citizens whose ill-success
or instincts suggest country life and labors. From both these classes,
and especially from the latter, I receive very many letters,
containing all kinds of questions. The chief burden on most minds,
however, is summed up in the words, "Do small fruits pay?" To meet the
needs of these two classes is one of the great aims of this work; and
it is my most earnest wish not to mislead by high-colored pictures.

Small fruits pay many people well; and unless location, soil, or
climate is hopelessly against one, the degree of profit will depend
chiefly upon his skill, judgment and industry. The raising of small
fruits is like other callings, in which some are getting rich, more
earning a fair livelihood, and not a few failing. It is a business in
which there is an abundance of sharp, keen competition; and ignorance,
poor judgment, and shiftless, idle ways will be as fatal as in the
workshop, store, or office.

Innumerable failures result from inexperience. I will give one extreme
example, which may serve to illustrate, the sanguine mental condition
of many who read of large returns in fruit culture. A young man who
had inherited a few hundred dollars wrote me that he could hire a
piece of land for a certain amount, and he wished to invest the
balance--every cent--in plants, thus leaving himself no capital with
which to continue operations, but expecting that a speedy crop would
lift him at once into a prosperous career. I wrote that under the
circumstances I could not supply him--that it would be about the same
as robbery to do so; and advised him to spend several years with a
practical and successful fruit grower and learn the business.

Most people enter upon this calling in the form of a wedge; but only
too many commence at the blunt end, investing largely at once in
everything, and therefore their business soon tapers down to nothing.
The wise begin at the point of the wedge and develop their calling
naturally, healthfully--learning, by experience and careful
observation, how to grow fruits profitably, and which kinds pay the
best. There ought also to be considerable capital to start with, and
an absence of the crushing burden of interest money. No fruits yield
any returns before the second or third year; and there are often
Unfavorable seasons and glutted markets. Nature's prizes are won by
patient, persistent industry, and not by Wall Street sleight of hand.

Location is very important. A fancy store, however well-furnished,
would be a ruinous investment at a country crossroad. The fruit farm
must be situated where there is quick and cheap access to good
markets, and often the very best market may be found at a neighboring
village, summer resort, or canning establishment. Enterprise and
industry, however, seem to surmount all obstacles. The Rev. Mr. Knox
shipped his famous "700" strawberries (afterward known to be the
Jucunda, a foreign variety) from Pittsburgh to New York, securing
large returns; and, take the country over, the most successful fruit
farms seem to be located where live men live and work. Still, if one
were about to purchase, sound judgment would suggest a very careful
choice of locality with speedy access to good markets. Mr. J. J.
Thomas, editor of "The Country Gentleman," in a paper upon the Outlook
of Fruit Culture, read before the Western N. Y. Horticultural
Society, laid down three essentials to success: 1. Locality--a region
found by experience to be adapted to fruit growing. 2. Wise selection
of varieties of each kind. 3. Care and culture of these varieties. He
certainly is excellent authority.

These obvious considerations, and the facts that have been instanced,
make it clear that brains must unite with labor and capital. Above
all, however, there must be trained, practical skill. Those succeed
who learn how; and to add a little deftness to unskilled hands is the
object of every succeeding page. At the same time, I frankly admit
that nothing can take the place of experience. I once asked an eminent
physician if a careful reading of the best medical text-books and
thorough knowledge of the materia medica could take the place of daily
study of actual disease and fit a man for practice, and he
emphatically answered, "No!" It is equally true that an intelligent
man can familiarize himself with every horticultural writer from the
classic age to our own and yet be outstripped in success by an
ignorant Irish laborer who has learned the little he knows in the
school of experience. The probabilities are, however, that the laborer
will remain such all his days, while the thoughtful, reading man, who
is too sensible to be carried away by theories, and who supplements
his science with experience, may enrich not only himself but the
world.

Still, there is no doubt that the chances of success are largely in
favor of the class I first named,--the farmers who turn their
attention in part or wholly toward fruit growing. They are accustomed
to hard out-of-door work and the general principles of agriculture.
The first is always essential to success; and a good farmer can soon
become equally skillful in the care of fruits if he gives his mind to
their culture. The heavy, stupid, prejudiced plodder who thinks a
thing is right solely because his grandfather did it, is a bucolic
monster that is receding so fast into remote wilds before the
horticultural press that he scarcely need be taken into account.
Therefore, the citizen or professional man inclined to engage in fruit
farming should remember that he must compete with the hardy,
intelligent sons of the soil, who in most instances are crowning their
practical experience with careful reading. I do not say this to
discourage any one, but only to secure a thoughtful and adequate
consideration of the subject before the small accumulations of years
are embarked in what may be a very doubtful venture. Many have been
misled to heavy loss by enthusiastic works on horticulture; I wish my
little book to lead only to success.

If white-handed, hollow-chested professional men anxious to acquire
money, muscle, and health by fruit raising,--if citizens disgusted
with pavements and crowds are willing to take counsel of common-sense
and learn the business practically and thoroughly, why should they not
succeed? But let no one imagine that horticulture is the final resort
of ignorance, indolence, or incapacity, physical or mental. Impostors
palm themselves off on the world daily; a credulous public takes
poisonous nostrums by the ton and butt; but Nature recognizes error
every time, and quietly thwarts those who try to wrong her, either
wilfully or blunderingly.

Mr. Peter Henderson, who has been engaged practically in vegetable
gardening for over a quarter of a century, states, as a result of his
experience, that capital, at the rate of $300 per acre, is required in
starting a "truck farm," and that the great majority fail who make the
attempt with less means. In my opinion, the fruit farmer would require
capital in like proportion; for, while many of the small fruits can be
grown with less preparation of soil and outlay in manure, the returns
come more slowly, since, with the exception of strawberries, none of
them yield a full crop until the third or fourth year. I advise most
urgently against the incurring of heavy debts. Better begin with three
acres than thirty, or three hundred, from which a large sum of
interest money must be obtained before a penny can be used for other
purposes. Anything can be raised from a farm easier than a mortgage.

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