Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-04-25
Small Fruit Farms.

The first farmer was a gardener and a
fruit grower. His labor consisted in car
ing for the trees that yielded the fruits on
which he subsisted. In tropical countries
where fruits ripen through the year men
still largely live on the produces of the
banana, which, it has been said, produces
greater amount of nutriment per acre
than any kind of grain. 1t is quite pos
sible that some kinds of small fruits, and
especially the grape, might contest with
the banana for supplying man want for
food from small areas. The small
fruits are veritable foods and not mere
relishes as they are too often considered.
If used aS food more eXtensinsvely man
kind would be healthier and happier. Then
fruit growing, as it conduces to this result,
is benefit to the race. By diversifying
farm labor it also helps to make all branch
es of farming more profitable.
In some sections of the country where
fruit generally succeed, the devotion of en-
tire farms to the growing of fruit becomes
quite common and is liable to be still more
so. 1t Is every year more evident that for
exclusive grain growing of any kind,
the eastern farmers cannot compete with
the great west. In fact, the western far
mer is himself pushed to compete success
fully in wheat production with the wheat
of Russia and India. 1t is this which
within a few Years has so largely stimulat-
ed the making of butter and cheese at the
west. There is money in dairy products
for western farmers on cheap lands, es-
pecially as these enable them better than
grain growing to maintain the fertility Of
their soil. But with the west monopoliz-
ing grain and dairy products what is there
for the eastern farmer.
Fruit growing seems the most natural
answer to his inquiry. There are many
advantages in this kind of farming. 1t
does away with the need of expensive
machinery required in grain growing or
the more expensive outfit in cows needed
by the dairymen. BY dividing attention
between a variety Of fruits, the farmer can
provide something to do most of the time
and some revenue through a large part of
the year. This kind of business neceSsi-
tateS the subdivision of farms. 1t is i'm
possible for man to properl care for
more than a few acres of the small fruits
and part of his land should be in apples,
pears and ounces, which require less con-
tlnuOus care during the growing season
than do the various kinds of berries.
The change of this kind of farming
should be made generally. Only the
small fruits will pay anything for the first
two or three years. Strawberries give their
best crop year after planting. Raspber
rles and blaCkberrieS are a year later but
will bear several crops without needing to
be renewed. Grapes the third year after
planting ought to yield enough to pay for
the labor of that year; and if properly
pruned and treIlised they will increase in
value for many years. There is some
money in grapes even at the very low
prices they sell for in a glutted market
The man who gets two cents Il pound for
grapes, if he has a fair crop, receives bet
ter pay for his labor than the farmer in al
most any branch of business. 1t is besides
a pleasant task to cultivate and prune the
grapevine, to say nothing of harvesting
and marketing it.
We do not believe there is serious dan
ger of overriding the production of any
kind OF fruit. If the market is glutted
and prices are low it is usually more the
fault of inferior quality, deficient stri-
button than Of excessive supply. To some
extent the Ct DIGEST fruit makes its own
market; but it needs some business enter
prise and push to bring producer and con-
sumner together. Farmers sometime COM
plain that the middeman takes so large a
share OF the profits. If he does so in the
sale of fruit let him try his own market
ing. In almost every rural neighborhood
are families doing without fruit who
would gladly buy them if brought to their
doors as they are in the city. 1t is rather
odd that while fruit and vegetables are
together grown in the country, people
have been obliged to go to the markets to
obtain them.
This arises mainly from the fact that
fruit growing Is made Incidental to other
farming or Is so extensive that only whole
sale methods of dispOsing of fruit are prac-
ticable. But the middleman is obliged to
take an extreme profit out of the fruits be-
cause of their perishable character.
1t Is for this reason that fruit growers
should, as far as possible. market the
products of their land themselves. This
necessarily Ii nits the area they can culti-
vate and care for. including harvesting
and marketing. though extra help will
always be needed when the fruit Is ready
to be gathered, to have the crop saved
without waste.
Can a farmer make a fair living and
provide competency against old age from
fruit growing on small areas? Thousands
are doing this and there Is room for many
more. 1t Is not a business that daZzles
with ambitious hopes of enormous profits.
No branch of farming offers such tempt
ing prizes of great wealth as do the mer-
camille and professional careers. But
there are also fewer blanks. Most Of the
failures In farming come from trying TO
do too much. This Is more true OF fruit
growing than Of anything else, for the
reason that most OF the fruit requires
greater care than can be given on an ex-