The Louisiana Democrat., 1891-08-05

WIFI TWO lines OF these trees standing
sixteen feet apart In the following
year apple and pear trees are also
named for such service, but merely in
positions were mulberries would not
grow CT bear. Only in 1892 was heed
paid to the fact that the interval be-
tween the trees which sufficed for mul.
berries was insufficient for the other
sorts. Then a distance of twenty -four
feet was prescribed for old roads aud
of thirty.two feet for new ones.
In IT'S desire to maintain the repu-
tation of the vineyards which produced
the then famous Neckar wine; called
forth an order against the planting of
fruit trees in vineyards, accompanied
by sentence Of immediate death against
all that had already been thus planted
unless they were over fifty years OF
age, when they might be preserved un-
til their time OF bearing should be over.
In 1928 a money reward was offer"d for
the destruction of wasps' nests.
Until the end of the last century
there were no nurseries of fruit-trees in
Wurtemberg. The first was founded
by Duke Charles Eugene when he estab-
lished the Kar!s Academic on his estate
la Solitude" land decided that horti-
culture should be among the branches
taught. The father of the poet Schil-
ler was, after his retirement from the
army, for many years director of this
horticultural school,
Wine is, of course, mentioned verv
early in this series of public documents,
but only in 1914 docs one read of inns
where beer as well as wine is sold, and
drinks made from other fruits than the
grape are not mentioned until 1850.
The preparation on a large scale of all
such drinks is then forbidden on ac-
count of the practice of using them to
adulterate wine. 1t is only permitted
to each farmer to prepare certain
stipulated small quantity for the con-
sumption of his own household. Other
wise, it is declared, it would soon be
impossible for the poor, and especially
for women, to get their needful draught
of pure wine, to say nothing of the ruin
that might come on the country at
large were this capital industry to
deteriorate. A little later even the fab
rication of small amounts of cider is for
bidden; butit seems to have been i'm
possible to enforce so radical me easure,
and there is soon return to laws which
do not prohibit, but strictly control and
limit its making. Not until 1885, how
ever, was the sale Of cider allowed, and
even then the warning against its adj
mixture with wine was reiterated,
Sometimes the two beverages could not
even be sold at the same time, though
cider might be alone. The use of cer-
tain inferior kinds OF. fruit for brewing
drinks is also often forbidden even at
this late date. Much fruit seems to
have been used in those days for cook
ing purposes, even more, proportion
ately, than at present, although the
Germans are remarkable to-day for
their love of this kind of food. Ye
cooked preparations of fresh fruit seem
to have been almost exclusively en-
ployed, for references to dried fruits
are few, and the prices named for them
in 1922 are SO high that they appear to
have been then a luxury. These care
full and strict regulations. of which we
have here quoted only a few among
many, prove that the government OF
that time took truly paternal interest
in the affairs of private cultivators as
we'll as Of the commune as such But
there can be no doubt that such regula-
tions did much to encourage the devel-
opment of local industries, or, at least,
to keep them in the best path that the
wisdom of the time could discover.
Moreover, they were sometimes in tho
direction of cnlarging, not restricting,
the liberty of poor farmers, as is pro-
vided by a law of 1867, which gave them
the right to transplant young wild fruit
trees from the forests without any pay
ment therefor. This privilege was a
greater one than it may seem to modern
readers, for there were vastly greater
numbers of such trees in tho forests
then than now; and it was also more of
a concession than we can easily realize,
for -.,untihg was then the one great
amusement of the rich, and not only
beasts of the chase were carefully pre-
served, but likewise the woods wherein
they found their food. 1t should be
noted, however, that the permission
is given for personal use only; no trans
planted tree to be sold, and it seems as
though each peasant were allowed to
take but single tree.-Garden and
Forest