36 TEANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



And while the ways of doing things by such men as quoted above are 

 for operations on large scales, the private gardener and fruit grower 

 will derive much benefit by modifying them to suit his smaller 

 requirements. 



So far it has been shown that a cause of failure in horticulture 

 is giving the crops less care than they need. It is hardly necessary 

 to say that another cause is doing more than is required, for one 

 man who may fail from doing too much in accomplishing a result, 

 thousands will fail from not doing enough. While there is perhaps 

 no person who does only the amount of work that is absolutely nec- 

 essary to obtain the best results, a few may occasionally go to 

 extremes like the man who was told that by moderately pinching 

 back melon and squash vines, while the fruit was yet small he 

 would direct more sap to it and thus hasten its growth and increase 

 its size. Trying this with success one year, he wondered why cut- 

 ting ofl! all other vines except what bore the fruit would not concen- 

 trate into it all the sap going to form these vines. Applying the 

 experiment to a few vines, with what seemed to him at first was 

 going to be a marvelous result; and in the meantime caused him to 

 extend the treatment to his entire crop, found to his loss and disap- 

 pointment, that while the first grew luxuriantly for a time, it soon 

 wilted and rotted. 



A very puzzling question to decide, and possibly the one where 

 the mistake of doing too much is most often made, is in growing 

 crops on which there is a boom. It causes many to grow this crop 

 and by the time their product is ready for market, the supply often 

 exceeds the demand, and as a result glut follows, bringing the prices 

 to a point insufficient to justify the expenses, viz; the occasional 

 booms in strawberries, potatoes, etc., or a crop may be in demand at 

 one time, and not at another. As an example a market gardener 

 often finds a good demand for sweet potatoes, cabbage, or other pro- 

 ducts one year, which induce him to plant again the same crop the 

 next year, but then there may be a very limited, or no demand for 

 them, thus involving a considerable loss to him. But as a rule it is 

 very seldom that such will be the case when once a good article has 

 been in demand. 



Another mistake frequently made is that a crop is left to perish 

 when it will realize less than the aggregate expenses. Should the 

 crop be abandoned when one-half or three-fourths of the work has 

 been done at a loss, yet it is unwise to leave it at this point, for the 

 amount of labor still necessary to save what percentage of the crop 

 can be saved, will often be amply repaid. 



As an illustration : This fall, early in September, in the north- 

 ern part of this State, a flock of sheep was turned into several acres 

 of cabbages badly damaged by the cabbage-worm {Pier is rapw) ; in 

 fact, I believe, that not a sound head of cabbage could have been 



