some special varieties of fruits, among those adapted to the climate, and this in the face of the fact, staring him in the eyes, that right in his own neighborhood. I care not where that may be, some neighbor has an abundant and prolific garden, not only of vegetables and small fruits, but an orchard that seldom fails yearly to produce fruit enough for the family, and in abundant seasons has largely to spare.

WHENCE COME OUR FRUITS ?

Let us look for a moment from whence come the vast daily inpouring of fruits to Chicago, and the other great distributing cities of the country. They come from every habitable quarter of the globe. The shores of the Gulf and Central America, California, Bermuda and the West Indies, France, Spain, Italy, and the countries of the Mediterranean sea; all these contribute largely. Oranges, lemons, pine apples, bananas, figs and all dried fruits are abundant the year round, in some form, and cheap either in their fresh or preserved state. This is rendered possible by cheap and swift railway transit-that wonderful system that has brought up the value of western farms within the last forty years, from a wilderness of grass, going a begging at $1.25 an acre, to a value of $10, $20, $50, and $100 an acre, according as it is located near or far from the station. It has enabled the farmers of this great and fertile Mississippi Valley to barter at prices favorable to all, wheat, corn, barley, oats, horses, cattle, sheep, swine, chickens, eggs, milk, butter and cheese; the gardener, his potatoes, and other vegetable wealth; the horticulturist, his apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, nuts and all small fruits; has enabled them, I repeat, to barter these for necessaries and luxuries of life, for all that other countries can bestow, and upon a fair basis of value. There only remains then for the farmer, to enable him to enjoy life as well as the best, that he cultivate an orchard of select varieties of fruit, natural to the climate, a garden of vegetables, and of small fruits, with the same care and diligence he does his corn field, to enable him to live truly on the fat of the land. A single acre is ample. Why then is it neglected?

The acre of corn costs from seven to ten dollars to cultivate and market. It brings the farmer from ten to fifteen dollars. The acre of garden costs him forty dollars to cultivate. The value of the product, at home, to eat, is worth from $100 to $150.

Would this interfere with the profits of the regular market gardener or small fruit growers?

Not at all.

Would it lessen or narrow the distribution of small fruits from great trade centers, like Chicago?

By no means. Most vegetables and small fruits perishable. If the farmer does not raise them, he does not have them, as he ought to have them, in their season. But, having acquired a taste for these things, witnessing, as he must, their value in improved health and spirit and activity in the family, he will buy more or less when out of the native season than he now does when trading at his village market.

Small fruits in the Chicago market are indeed a wonderful study. The strawberry season is now about at hand. They come first from Florida and other favorable gulf state points, and are intended for the palates of millionaires at fifty cents to one dollar a box. By the first to the middle of April, the sun, marching north, has ripened its daily twelve miles stride so far toward the great city by the lake, that twenty-five cents the box is a fair value. Then the great middle class can take their strawberries and cream.

The fifteenth of May brings the strawberry season fairly well into Illinois, and no man is so poor that he may not eat occasionally, and the great laboring class may often find them on their table. So day by day the strawberry crop creeps nearer and nearer, until its season of ripening has come to within 100 miles of Chicago. There it stops-so far as sending car loads may be concerned.

Why is this? Berries are ripening in Michigan, and steamer after steamer pour the tribute of this great fruit state into the market. Between the 100 mile limit and Michigan sometimes comes a glut, and perhaps for a day or two strawberries are peddled out, even down to five cents a quart. But they soon rally. The laboring masses have got

a taste; the children cry for them; every little mouth eagerly sucks the grateful juice and gains health thereby, and prices again go to three boxes for a quarter.

Then comes in Wisconsin with her tribute to the general wealth of fruit, and Wisconsin strawberries are very apt to see the price go again to ten and even fifteen cents a box. Why, again?

There is a beauty of color, a refreshing aroma, a grateful acid, or some other cause that makes them sought. Perhaps it is like the case of the athlete, who gets his second wind. The people get their second taste of this noblest of small fruits.

The same may be said to be the true state of the small fruit trade in Chicago. One fruit follows another, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, cherries, huckleberries, blackries - until late autumn finds the blackberry of the north going out, and the cranberry of Wisconsin in its full crimson beauty, and anti-malarial acidity, coming in by barrels full and in car loads.

WHAT MAKES FRUIT SELL.

First, quality; second, evenness; third, the name of the grower and packer of the fruit. There is still another important means of profit. Fruit must not only be of good quality but the package must be attractive, and in such packages as are generally recognized by the trade. Strawberries, firm raspberries and blackberries should always be in full quart boxes. The softer raspberries only in pint boxes. The man who tries to, sneak in a steal upon the buyer, by using small boxes always cheats himself in the end. No men are better judges of quality, variety or quantity than dealers who buy to sell again. They may, it is true, be occasionally cheated in barrel fruits, at least until opened. The commission merchant, however, is always obliged to give rebate, else he could not hold his trade. He gets even on the next consignment from the same party. This class, however, never believe in the honesty of the commission man, and after cheating him once they try some other one, until at last they run through to the end of their