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comparative freedom from labor troubles made a combination 

 of advantages which other sections would have difficulty in 

 equalling. And, lastly, we did not share (and we flo not now 

 share) the apprehension of many that we are on the verge of 

 such an overproduction of apples as will wipe out all profit in 

 growing them. We therefore ventured forth as commercial 

 orchardists, — at first, it is true, with some fears and many 

 doubts, but always with a reasonable amount of confidence in 

 the final outcome. .Vnd I believe I can claim without any ex- 

 aggeration that, on the wdiole, our enterprise has been entirely 

 successful to date. Certainly it has been enough so to increase 

 our enthusiasm with every year that has passed. 



So much by way of introduction. Now, just a word on the 

 subject under discussion. 



The land which we bought was not all ideal. But it was con- 

 veniently located for us to get at, being only four miles from 

 Amherst; we could get a good block of land in one section; 

 and, above all, the trolley line from Amherst to Holyoke passed 

 right through it. which we considered very important, as it 

 enabled us to get our fertilizers, etc., in by trolley, and our 

 crops out. 



The principal criticism of the land would be that it is too 

 light and sandy jn some parts. But, in my opinion, this is a 

 good fault if one cannot have ideal land; for light soils, while 

 more "hungry" than heavy, are more easily worked, often en- 

 abling one to get at the spring work days in advance. 



A point which has interested me greatly in connection with 

 the behavior of our dififerent blocks is the way in which those 

 fields whose soil was in "good heart" have given us better 

 growth and finer trees, with less effort, than those blocks which 

 were plowed out of old pasture or run-down mowings. I am 

 not quite ready to say that I would defer planting the orchard 

 for a year in order to get the soil in proper condition, for when 

 one has his mind made up, it is hard to wait. But 1 do most 

 emphatically believe that if it is at all possible to decide one or 

 two years in advance what blocks are to be set and then grow 

 such crops on these blocks as will put the soil in the best 

 possible condition for the trees, it is a great advantage. A 

 somewhat larger per cent of the trees will live, they will make 

 satisfactory growth with less coddling, and in particular there 



