The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-09-27
Fruit Culture In the United States.


saken her classic haunts and by stcerage
passage or otherwise emigrated to this ia.
vOred land of ours. just when the genial
goddess arrived, or by what particular
is not 4 matter of record, but
some time doubtless within the past fif-
teen years, during which period this coun-
try has attained a develOpme nt in abund-
ance and excellence of fruitage far beyond
that of any other in the world. In COM
mcrcial statistics the United States has
heretofore figured chiefly in connection
with SO much wheat and corn and COT
ton; but OF late years the enormous guam
tity and value of our perishable fruits has
begun to impress itself upon the public
and commercial mind. Europeans, espe-
cialiy Englishmen, now look to Ameri-
ca, not only for its surplus breadstuffs and
cotton, but for its toothsome apples and
other fruits, canned and dried in great va
riety. They have tried our beef and liked
it and become regular and remunerative
customers; our oysters have touched a
tender spot in the English palate; thou
sands of tons of American cheeses are an
nually consumed abroad, and the latest
craving of the British appetite is for
American apples and our other yet more
tender fruits. Among the latter may be
mentioned the tomato, which successfully
sells at retail from thirty cents to one dol
lar per dozen. All this commerce in our
fruits has grown up recently, and has in
in the past two or three years. This year
mcnted by the almost utter failure of the
Err :al, orI + rpln,,
prOphesies the importation OF a vast guam
tity of American apples, which will be
held at very high prices.
But this foreign appreciation of Amer
lean fruits and the growing remunerative
demand for them are, at present, a second
airy consideration. 1t is their benefcent
value as an addition to the dietary of this
country that lends the chief significance
to these superintendent, juicy products Of
the earth. Not to tile rich alone, as for
merly, are these choice treasures of vine
and tree confined, but so plentiful and
cheap have they become, that for few
cents the poor man may have placed be-
fore him dish of fruit that would have
made the eyes Of monarch glisten with
delight at its rarity century ago. And
this cheapness and commences of whole.
some fruits is doubtless having wide
spread effect upon the public health and
longevity. The whole development, too,
OF fruit growing in the United States is
within the memory of its middle-aged in
habitants. There is the tomato, which
has become the most valuable of the
minor fruits in the variety and extent of
its uses. 1t was only the other day that
we heard a rosy-cheeked matron laugh
ingly describe its introduction into a
rural New England community during
her childhood. As the fruit began to
swell the anxious query with the good
folks was, when and how to eat it. Should
it be picked green, like cucumbers, and
eaten with pepper and vinegar? Or
should it be boiled, like squashes? For
experiments sake number we're boiled
green and eaten with condiments, and Of
course the honlely verdict was that
this new-fangled fruit was mo great
shakes" after all. But the chick
ems liked to pick at the ripe tomatoes,
and so the Obtuse old farmers kept raising
them till the chickens taught them the
lesson of eating the ripe fruit themselves.
Take that most prolific and valuable of
all our fruits, the apple. Time was when
its chief merit seemed to. consist in its
cider making quality. What the apple
of the fathers was, the curious may ascer-
tain from the scanty and grabbed fruitage
of now and then an antique apple-tree to
be found in the back. country pasture lots.
Now, this most satisfying and nutritious
fruit of the Northern States numbers no
less than 1880 varieties, many of them
possessing delicacy of flavor and text
ure fit to tickle the palate of royal cpl
cure. There are our pears, which, from a
few small, insipid kinds, have increased
within q generation to 1870 varieties of
varying degrees Of juicy lusciousness. Of
strawberries, from the common field berry
we have attained to 800 varieties; hardy
native grapes are in like number of varie-
ties; peaches also are of 300 kinds; cher
ries, $50; currants, 80; while blackber-
RIGS and raspberries have been redeemed
from the fields and produce prolificly in
all our gardens in many and choice varie-
ties. Then, too, there are the semi trop-
ical products of Florida, which, latest Of
all, have become sensible addition to
the country s fruit production. The or
angc groves of that State will ere long be
the source of the country's entire winter
supply of oranges, and lemons, figs, pine
apples and bananas will more and more
abound there and find their market at the
North.
tits only in recent years that the South
woke up to its competitive advantage
over the North in the matter of fruit and
vegetable raising. In the great staple of
apples, the Northern States possess an in
contestable superiority. New York,
Michigan, Missouri and Kansas always
excepting from every comparison Cali
forhia) can beat the world for magnificent
apples but aside from this pre-eminence,
with like superiority perhaps in the pro-
auction Of pears, there Is hardly berry
or a fruit that the South cannot raise in
greater luxuriance and abundance. This
is getting notably to be the case with
peaches. Formerly, this fruit found con-
genial soil In New England, later, New
Jersey was Its favorite habitat. and now
Delaware and Maryland are conspicuous
" at the head, while the empire of the
peach still seems steadily progressing
southward. With increasing facilities