Biggle - The Biggle Berry Book : Small Fruit Facts from Bud to Box Conserved into Understandable Form

A BOX OF GANDYS

(WITH HARRIETS COMPLIMENTS)

Copyright 2014 by Skyhorse Publishing

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62636-143-0
eISBN: 978-1-62873-911-4

Printed in China

I HOLD that it is right to tell what we know in any line of farming, if our knowledge be of value to others and will help them to success. Now, I have been engaged more or less in strawberry culture for many years, and have in that time learned a little, and this little I am ready to communicate to my neighbors and even to impart to a wider circle, wide enough to take in the whole Farm Journal family and the entire remnant of the population of the country.

The only trouble is, I do not know it all; and yet it may be best that I do not, since I have discovered that those folks who know it all are apt to get behind the lighthouse and are left in the dark themselves.

Confessed, I do not know it all; yet Harriet knows some and Tim knows a heap; together, though, we are so far from a universal knowing that I have not hesitated, in preparing this book for publication, to get the opinions and experiences of a number of bright, practical men.

It will be seen, therefore, that some pages of my book will contain explicit information from other berry growers,living in all parts of the country, in all latitudes and longitudes. In brief, I have tried to make the book national in its scope, rather than local. And I herewith extend my cordial thanks for the outside information which has enabled me to do so.

A feature is the showing of the berries in natural colors, which, to my knowledge, has never before been successfully accomplished in a book. It cost time, money and infinite pains to procure accurate paintings of the fruits and to transfer them to the pages of this book, many specimens being printed in eight separate colors in order to produce the required truthfulness of shading. Of course most of the credit of success in this line must accrue to the publishers, and to them I freely give it.

Another feature is the many excellent half-tone, engravings which were made, from photographs, expressly for this book. These photographs came from all parts of this great country of ours, and show actual scenes, appliances, methods, etc.

Grapes, although perhaps not strictly in the classification of small fruits, are given a chapter (or may I call it an arbor?) all by themselves; for, surely, a fruit garden without grape-vines would be like a pudding minus sauce.

My earnest wish is that this little book may lead its readers far into that place of delightthe finished fruit-garden.

JACOB BIGGLE.

Elmwood,

1911.

STRAWBERRIES

RASPBERRIES

CURRANTS

GOOSEBERRIES

The way to begin, is to begin

Among the enthusiastic growers, whose opinions about berry culture I have asked, is J. H. Hale, of the state of Connecticut, and the United States of America, for he belongs to the latter; and here is one of the things he wrote: No man should fool himself into telling his wife that he hasnt time to bother with such small trash as berries, but will buy all the family wants; he may not be much of a liar, but those of us who have so often heard that old chestnut about buying all the berries the family wants, know that man is way off. He never did and never will buy one-tenth part as many berries as the family will consume, if he will give them all they can wallow in right fresh from the home garden. Mr. Hale is right; few in the country will buy enough berries.

The only just and true way for an honorable and manly man is to grow them, and let everybody about the place have all he can eat. Then therell be less lard, tough beef, or dried-apple pies to be manipulated and cooked in midsummer over red-hot ranges. For the berry comes from the garden to the table in tempting and presentable shape, fit to grace the table of a king.

A friend asks; How many berries will the average farmer buy? Will it be one quart a week? A housewife was promised by her well-to-do husband, that instead of growing berries he would purchase all she wanted. At the end of the season she said: How many berries do you suppose we bought? Not a single quart!

That forcible question and answer are altogether too common. Farmers who with very little expense can grow these most healthful and delicious fruits, deny to themselves and their families the greatest table luxury which Providence has bestowed upon people of temperate climates, when a single square rod of ground might yield them more intrinsic value than an acre in many other products.

Berry growing is to many people a great mystery, as the writer has had impressed upon him by numberless inquiries, both verbal and written. There is no fruit crop so immediately productive, none which attaches to itself so much enthusiasm and quick reward for labor expended. Berries flourish in nearly all soils and in all temperate climates. The number of varieties is now unlimited, and suited to all tastes.

ROLLING CRUSHES LUMPS AND PACKS DOWN THE SOIL

One large farmer in the country consigns to his own table a peck a day; others provide a quart for each person, and dispense almost wholly with meat so long as berries can be had in good condition. A very intelligent young lady living opposite my farm, who has traveled the world over, enjoys life just as long as the supply of berries continues; but at other seasons she is more or less of an invalid. And yet there are too many who regard berries as mere luxuries, and refer you to pork and potatoes for nourishment and substantial sustenance for body and mind.

A. I. Root says: Everybody ought to have all the berries he wants. If he does not care to grow them, he ought to be in some business so that he can afford to buy them, quart after quart, morning, noon and night. Not only because they give enjoyment, but because they are the cheapest, best and most natural medicine to tone up the system that has ever been invented. They are both victuals and drink. The man who can not afford to give up his beer, tea and coffee, yes, and tobacco, too, when berries are plentiful and cheap, is a man to be pitied.