The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-08
THE VALUE. Of FRUIT
Its Importance as a Crop and
as q Food. :s..

l recently had the advantage, in Wis.
ting group of small holdings, of
seeing something of the work OF the
strawberry and apple grower. take
an instance-one of a number of sim.
liar character-in which strawberries
covered quarter Of the area of a FIVE
acre holding. On this comparatively
small plot crop was grown which
realized $50 in the market, the work
being practically all performed by the
holder and his wife. These persons,
like mechanical work, had simply &C.
CURED the knowledge Of fruit culture,
like the strawberry growers Of Botley,
from those who had picked 1t up be-
fore Them. In another case a grower
owning a larger area Of land was con-
filming himself to potatoes on his ara
bile and apples and plums on his plant
ed land. The plantation, five or six,
acres In extent, is five years old, and is
being supplemented by another, for
which young trees have been produced
on the property; ami thus it is that
the beginner, compelled at first to buy
his trees from the nurseryman, is able
to extend his acreage by growing them
for himself, avoiding cost which is
always serious item. Just as the
strawberry grower referred to by do
ing his own work. grows the best fruit
and keeps it clean with straw. seeking
to obtain early and late crops, either
of which realize better prices than
the main crop, 80 does the apple grow
er. by systematic and continuous ex-
perlment-for fruit culture is all ex-
periment-seek to ascertain which va
reties suit his soil and climate best,
and how to produce a large and GER
tain crop by carefully pruning and by
spraying in spring to prevent destruc-
ton by parasitic life.
The advantage Of the bush tree is
that the branches, like the fruit, are
within reach of the hands, so that
pruning is rendered easy, the tree
kept open, and the fruit hand picked,
and thus, too, the best fruit can be
picked when It Is fittest for the mar
ket, carefully sorted and packed, and
sold to realize the highest price. The
grower in question fully realizes this
Just as eggs are now handled sepa-
rately, sorted into sizes and colors,
and, it is to be feared, into many cases,
sold as new laid, when they have
crossed the sea, so will the apple
grower of the future pay attention to
every individual fruit, that 1t may be
presented in boxes or baskets to the
buyer in its most attractive condition.
The return OF the strawberry grower
is much more rapid than that of the
apple grower who plants his own land,
but 1t cannot be doubted, bearing in
mind the results of the last season,
that, next to the earliest fruit. late
fruit-that available up to August 10,
for examples the most profitable
On many heavy soils black currants,
IL free from disease, are profitable; on
many medium soils gooseberries pay
well, and in one case l walked through
a plantation OF some twenty acres In
area which the owner as content to
sell annually at E13 an acre, for
others to pick and to market, which,
! believe, they did with great advan-
tage to themselves. The cost to the
owner of the plantation was chiefly
confined to hoeing, occasional manur-
ing, and the replacing of dead bushes.
To sell we'll, fruit should be attractive
in color and in flavor, which it chiefly
owes TO the sugars and acids, chiefly
malic and citric, 1t contains.
AS to the value of fruit as food, we
have only to consult reliable data
showing of what 1t Is composed. For
instance the fuel value Of a pound of
bananas or grapes is three times as
large as that of pound OF straw
berries, and much larger than in the
case OF the apple. the fig or the cur
rant. all of which are much superior
to the Grange or the pear, the value
of which liz this respect Is very low