Page:Natural history of the farm.djvu/20

"The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."

The bounty of nature is never more fully appreciated than when we see a tree bearing a load of luscious fruit. A tree that has been green, like its fellows, suddenly bursts into a glow of color, and begins to exhale a new and pleasant fragrance as its product ripens. The bending boughs disclose the richness and abundance of its gift to us.

Among nature's delicacies there are none so generally agreeable and refreshing as her fruits. They possess an infinite variety of flavors. Before the days of sugar-making, they were the chief store of sweets. They everywhere fulfill an important dietary function, both for man and for many of his animal associates.

All fruits were once wild fruits. Most of them exist today quite as they came to us from the hand of nature. A few have been considerably improved by selection and care. But none of them has been altered in its habits. They grow and bloom and bear and die as they did in the wildwood.

They have their seasons, the same seasons that the market observes. First come the strawberries, breaking the fast of winter's long barrenness. What wonder that our Iroquois Indians celebrated the ripening of the fragrant wild strawberries by a great annual festival! Then come the currants and the raspberries and the cherries and the buffalo-berries and the mulberries and the plums and many others in a long succession, the season ending with the grapes, the apples, the cranberries and the persimmons.

The wild fruits have their requirements also as to climate, soil, moisture, etc., and these we must observe if we cultivate