Part 23

=127. Fruit Growers.= If American women would only turn their attention to the cultivation of fruits and flowers for market, instead of giving it up to ignorant foreigners, how much better it would be! A few hundred dollars would make a very handsome beginning; and those who do not have so much at their disposal, could get their friends to advance it. At Shrewsbury and Lebanon, much fruit is put up by the Shakers, and sent to New York for sale. Women might have orchards, raise fruit, and send it to market. Mrs. D. owns a farm, and does not disdain to graft fruit trees, superintend their planting, gather fruit, send it to market, &c.; and she realizes a handsome profit. The grafting and budding of fruit trees might be done very well by women, and also the budding of ornamental shrubs. "Miss S. B. Anthony," says the Binghampton _Republican_, "resides at Rochester, and supports herself by raising raspberries from land given to her by her father." I have been told that on one acre of land near New York city a thousand dollars' worth of strawberries can be grown. In New Jersey and Delaware, women are employed to gather berries for market. If a lady is within a few miles of town, and has facilities for raising and sending fruit to market, she will not be likely to fail in meeting with ready sale. Berries bring a good price in the markets of a city. In Cincinnati, from May 21st to June 1st, 1847, 5,463 bushels of strawberries were sold, and near St. Louis is a gentleman that has some hundreds of acres of strawberries in cultivation to assist in supplying the St. Louis market. The drying of fruit affords employment, and generally well remunerates time so given, if carried on extensively.

=128. Fruit Venders.= Flowers are formed to please the eye and indulge the fancy; but fruits are a healthy and important article of food. Some women sell fruit in market; some, at stalls in the street; some, in fruit shops or groceries; and some, from baskets, going from house to house. Most dispose of small fruit, such as berries--some wild and some cultivated. The ferries in large cities are very good stands for sellers of fruits and sweetmeats. Places of amusement and the entrance to cemeteries, are also. I talked to one apple woman, who says her business is a slavish one. Her stand was at the Atlantic ferry, New York. When she goes to her dinner, she gets the gate keeper to mind her stand. She earns, on an average, $1 a day. She rises, gets her breakfast, and starts to market by five o'clock. She remains at her stand until nine o'clock at night. She sells the greatest quantity of fruit in the spring and fall, when people are most apt to be making money, and so permit a little self-indulgence. She sells least in winter. I saw a woman on the street selling fruit and flowers. When she is out all day, she can generally earn from fifty cents to $1. Another fruit seller told me that she makes a good living. She has been at her stand eight years. She sells most fresh fruit in summer; and in winter, about the holidays, most dry fruit and nuts. In the coldest weather she remains in her basement, heated by a stove, where she stores her fruit at night. Her grapes are brought in on the cars, put up in pasteboard boxes. Her location is excellent, for the working class of people pass in the evening, returning from work, or in their promenades. I talked with an old woman at an apple stand, who told me she often sells $1 worth of articles in a day, but seldom makes a profit of more than half. She sells most fruit in summer, but most cigars, candy, and nuts in winter. She says there is a stand on every block, in that part of New York. Hers is a good location, because so many men pass. In wet weather, she does not sell much. She is shielded in winter, by sitting in a hall near, where she can keep an eye on her stand. She lives near, and while she goes home to dinner, her husband sells for her. An apple woman, in New York, told us, she has kept her stand in Washington park for seven years. She remains at it all the year. If any other fruit vender should trespass on her bounds, a policeman would soon send him or her off. Another old woman, keeping a fruit stand, told me she makes a comfortable living at it in summer; but in winter she stays in a confectionery store, and gets $10 a month and her board. At another fruit stand, on asking the old lady how she got on, she burst into tears, and replied, very poorly, scarcely made enough to keep her alive. A professional honor exists among fruit women, and a desire to sustain each other in their rights. A wholesale fruit dealer writes me that it takes from two to four years to learn the business, when carried on extensively.

=129. Gardeners.= The strength and energy of people, in northern climates, have led them to excel in the rearing of fruit--not in imparting a more delicious flavor, but in the quantity, the fulness, and the size of the fruit. In the balmy air and under the sunny sky of the South, vegetation develops more rapidly and more luxuriantly. He who adds to the list of beautiful and fragrant flowers, or improves some variety of fruit, enlarging, or rendering it more luscious, will be remembered as a benefactor. Gardening is a pleasant and healthy occupation to those that love outdoor life. A woman can no more be healthful and beautiful without exercise in the open air, than a plant can when deprived of air and light. We learn, from Mr. Howitt's "Rural Life in England," that "there are on the outskirts of Nottingham, upward of five thousand gardens, each less than the tenth of an acre. The bulk of these are occupied by the working classes. These gardens are let at from half a penny to three halfpence per yard." German women are often employed, near cities, to weed gardens, gather vegetables, and other such work. "In Hereford, England, there are no fewer than six annual harvests, in each of which children are largely employed: 1, bark peeling; 2, hay; 3, corn, 4, hops; 5, potatoes; 6, apples; 7, acorns. Add to these, bird keeping in autumn and spring, potato setting and hop tying, and the incidental duties of baby nursing and errand going."

=130. Makers of Cordial and Syrups.= Women who live in the country, and have small fruit, would find it pay well to make cordials, berry vinegars, &c. There are some establishments where it is made, and women are employed to gather the fruit. The people of the Southern States have depended on the North for these articles, but we presume a change will be wrought. The abundant growth of small fruit in the South will enable the South before long to meet the demand. We think there will be many openings of this kind, in the South and West, for many years to come. Some manufacturers of ginger wine, bitters, syrups, cordials, and grape wines, write: "In reply to your circular we say--We do not employ any women in our business, although we indirectly furnish employment for several hundred, during the various fruit seasons, in gathering most kinds of fruit, which we use in our business. Many of these fruits are wild, which we buy at a specified price. The gatherers control their own time, and their earnings will vary from fifty cents to $1 each, per day. It would probably require the labor of about six hundred for six months of each year, in gathering the amount of fruit which we use. But as we do not directly employ them, or know anything about the general business of those thus employed, we are unable to give further particulars."

=131. Root, Bark, and Seed Gatherers.= When the grass is bowed by the sparkling dew, and the hills shrouded in mist, plants exhale most freely their sweet odors. They are then gathered and sold to manufacturers, who prepare from them oils, essences, and perfumeries. An old Quaker lady on Tenth street, Philadelphia, keeping an herb store, told me that she purchases her herbs mostly of men, but some women do bring them to sell. It requires a knowledge of botany to gather them, and the stage of the moon must be observed. Digging roots, and gathering plants, at all seasons, is a hard business. At another herb store, I learned that the prices paid gatherers depend much on the kind of herb, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the season when it is gathered. A woman may earn $1 a week, or she may earn as much as $10. The roots and herbs are bought by weight. Many are purchased fresh in market, but some of the gatherers dry them. They are sent from different parts of the Union to the cities and towns. One told me that she would rather purchase herbs and seed put up by women, for they are neater and more careful with their work. She sells most in spring and fall. An Indian doctress told me barks must be gathered in the spring and fall, when they are full of sap; and roots, when the leaves are faded or dead. She sometimes makes $20 worth of syrup in a day. She says the business requires some knowledge of plants, experience in the times of gathering, amount of drying, &c.

=132. Seed Envelopers and Herb Packers.= In a seed store in Philadelphia, we found, they employ women in January and February, at $2.50 a week, to put seeds up in paper bags, seal them, and paste labels on. They go at eight in the morning, and remain until dark. At a large drug store in Philadelphia, we were told they employ nine women. They have seven distinct branches for the women, and separate apartments for each branch, consisting of weighing and putting up powders, sorting herbs and roots, putting up liquids, &c., &c. The women earn from $3 to $5 a week, and spend nine hours, from eight to six, having an hour at noon. In busy seasons they remain till eight or nine, and receive additional wages. There is nothing unhealthy in the business. They are paid $3 a week from the time they are taken to learn, and deduction made for absence. A seller of botanic medicines in Boston writes me: "He employs women in putting medicines in small packages for the retail trade, bottling the same, and labelling. He pays $5 a week to his women, and $3 a week while learning, the time for which is six months. Common sense, neatness, and integrity are the qualifications needed. The girls work from nine to ten hours. He will not employ any but American women. He pays men $8 or $9, because they can take them off, and put them upon work that girls cannot do. Women would be paid better if they were stronger, and did not need so much waiting upon in the way of lifting and arranging their work. Rainy days they want to stay at home, or, if they come, it takes half a day for them to dry their clothes. Men they can depend on in all weather. Women might keep their books, if their crinoline was not too extensive: that alone would bar them from the counting room. Women are inferior only in physical disabilities. Girls are good for nothing until after sixteen years of age; and nine in ten will get married as soon as they are fairly initiated in work--hence the time spent by women in acquiring a business education is to a certain extent lost--lost to their employers, but of assistance to them in the education of their children." Mr. P., botanic druggist says: "There are but three establishments in New York, for this business, and twelve women would be quite enough for them. They put up herbs in packages. One day's practice is enough for a smart person. The women are paid from $3 to $5 a week." At the United States Botanic Depot they employ one girl, and pay her $4 a week. She only works in daylight. Mr. J. L. employs two girls to put up botanic medicines. He has men to cork the bottles. They work ten months in the year. Nothing is done in December and January. They pay $4 a week, of ten hours a day. In Louisville, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, few women are employed in this way. Some seedsmen and florists near Boston employ four ladies in enveloping seed. One of the ladies writes: "We presume more ladies are employed in Europe to put up seed than in this country. The employment is not unhealthy. We are paid 6 cents an hour, and work by the hour. To learn the part the women do, requires about two hours. Judgment is most needed. Employment of this kind is increasing, there is a demand for female labor in the seed department." A seedsman, in Rochester, writes: "We employ six women in making paper bags, paying 25 cents per hundred. Boys are employed at about the same wages. We have work from July to January. The girls take their work home. We use some boys, because their work benefits their families equally as much."

=133. Sellers of Pets.= In Paris there are stores for the sale of dogs and cats. In London, the sale of dogs is mostly on the streets, or at the residence of the raiser. The aristocracy of England maintain 500,000 dogs and a large number of cats; consequently food must be provided for them. The sale of birds is common. Gold and silver fish, white rabbits, Guinea pigs, squirrels, tortoises, fawns, lambs, and goats, are sometimes sold in seed and flower stores. Flowers and birds are the favorite pets of ladies in the United States. Everything of this nature is sold to some extent in the markets and on the streets of our cities, but generally at the houses of those who devote themselves to the business.

=134. Wine Manufacturers and Grape Growers.= Many persons are becoming interested in the culture of the grape; and some are spending time and money in experimenting. Longworth of Cincinnati has realized a fortune from his operations. Belle Britain says: "In Longworth's cellars are 700,000 bottles of wine. Mr. L. informed her (?) that we have in this country at least 5,000 varieties of the grape, and his vineyards yield from 600 to 700 gallons to the acre." The color of wine depends on the color of the grapes from which it is made. In several of the States, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Alabama, vineyards are flourishing, and many new ones are being planted out. The variety of soil and surface in our country is such that there is every probability of success. As yet, only two kinds have been much grown. No doubt a large number of women will, in the course of a few years, be employed in the cultivation of the vine and the manufacture of wine. One can soon learn, with a few instructions in each season, the proper culture of the vine. A great deal of the work in the vineyards of France and Switzerland is done by women. Women do better that men, because their fingers are smaller and more nimble. The want of intelligent culture has been the greatest barrier in the introduction of graperies into our country; but such is the number of foreigners now among us that have a practical knowledge of the business, we need fear no want of workmen. Many, too, have not been willing to invest capital in an uncertain enterprise. Wine manufacturers in Orange county, N. Y., write: "We have not employed women to any great extent in our business. There are some branches of the business in which women might be suitably and profitably employed, where those branches are extensively carried on. The bottling process, including cleaning of bottles, filling, putting on foil, labels, &c., could be done by women as well as men. Women could pick the grapes, and cull out the green and poor berries, and prepare them for the press. They are employed for this purpose in Europe. The reasons why we have not employed women in these branches are, we bottle not more than one sixth of our wine; we manufacture principally for church communion and medicinal purposes, and the principal demand for those purposes is by the gallon--consequently we send it out mostly in casks. (Some wine growers bottle all.) The men, whom we necessarily employ by the year or month in the cultivation of the ground, vines, &c., are of course employed in the season of the vintage, bottling, &c.; and in hurried times, such as the time of picking the grapes, we get such additional help as is easiest obtained, generally boys and girls, with sometimes women. Women are in such demand here for household labor, that, unless sought for at the proper time, March and the 1st of April, and hired for the year, it would be almost impossible to obtain them. The wages generally paid are from $5 to $7 per month, mostly $5 and $6." Another grape grower writes, in answer to a circular: "I do not employ female help in my business, except for a few weeks during the time of tying up the vines and in gathering the fruit, for which I pay 50 cents per day, without board. Women might be employed to quite an extent in this business, which is increasing in the country to a wonderful degree."

RAISERS, MAKERS, PREPARERS, AND DISPOSERS OF ARTICLES OF FOOD.

=135. Bread Bakers.= Nearly all the bakeries in New York are attended by women. I could not learn of any women being employed in bread bakeries to mix or bake, but they are in Germany and France. In France the bakehouse girls enter ovens heated often to 300°, and, it is stated, sometimes to even 400°. Bakerooms are usually of such great heat as to be injurious to the health of any but the strongest and stoutest. Some establishments have day and night bakers. The night bakers are up all night, and must have their bread ready by 5.30 A. M. The day bakers go in at 7, and turn out a batch of bread at 11 A. M. Bakers spend on an average seventeen hours at their work, and this no doubt accounts partly for the absence of women from the occupation in this country: seventeen hours out of the twenty-four are too many for any woman to be on her feet. In this country the bakers are robust, hearty-looking men, and mostly Germans. Their average wages are $6 a week. Some bakers have a scaly eruption produced by frequent contact of the skin with flour. Inhaling the flour in mixing bread I have heard is unhealthy. Some women might object to working in the same room with men, and baking is certainly very warm work in summer. In most European cities the price of bread is regulated by the Government. The cost of materials and the state of the market regulate the price. A fine is the penalty for a violation of the law. In this country, bakers regulate the price of bread by the kind and quality. No law is enforced specifying prices. Some years ago an attempt was made in New York to have bread sold by the weight, but the bakers all opposed it. They might have been tempted to put something heavy in the flour. In large cities some establishments are devoted to one branch only of the business. Baker's bread is more used in free than in slave States. In Northern cities some families prepare their bread, cakes, pies, and meats, and send them to bakeries, where for a small sum they are cooked. It saves a vast amount of labor. Some bakers use potatoes in making up wheat bread. I never knew of rice being used by bakers in this country, but know it is by some bakers in Paris. The modes of baking bread, and the kinds of bread used, vary not only in different, but in the same countries. "Some bakers give the impression their bread is made by women," said a lady in a bakery, to us, "but it is not. A woman could not make up two or three barrels of flour in a day. Men are just as neat bakers as women could be." At three bakeries I was told by the employers that they pay their girls who attend the shop $7 a month, and board them, but do not have their washing done. From several girls that stood in bakeries I learned that they received from $6 to $10 a month, and their board. Only one of the number got her washing done without extra expense. The girls were expected to keep the counters, waiters, jars, and floors clean. They must be in the bakery by 5 o'clock A. M., and stay until 10 P. M. Some women require the girls to sew when not waiting on customers, and some require them to sweep and keep the room clean, and some even to wash the shop windows. Girls that stand in bakeries receive no better compensation than house girls. A foreman of the baking department, generally receives $8 a week, and his boarding. Girls are usually paid from the time they enter. A knowledge of reading, writing, and figures is considered sufficient. I was told by one lady in a shop that girls attending bakeries usually receive from $8 to $10 a month, with board, and some, also, get their washing done. They are not required to keep the books for those terms, and the bakeries are few in number where female employees keep the books. I was told by an Irish woman that in Ireland there are few or no women attending bakeries and groceries. At one bakery a girl told me she finds it very bad to be on her feet all the time. She could not stay constantly in a bakery for one year at a time, she gets so weak from excitement and fatigue. She says most Germans keep their bakeries open on the Sabbath; but the Americans have too much respect for the day to do so. On Saturday night, bakeries are often open until 12 o'clock, and sometimes later.

=136. Brewers.= I wrote to a lady, whose name I saw in a directory as a brewer. She replies: "You wish to know if I work at brewing, personally. I do not at present, but have done so, and worked hard the man's part; but my means are such now that I can do without. I have men employed, and a clerk, &c., &c. I am a widow, and superintend my business, and understand all that is connected with it. I suppose it is not necessary to dwell longer on the subject, as I am out of the working part now. I am sixty-two years of age."