226 BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. 



But haphazard methods will not win success in southern Indiana any more 

 than in other sections of the country. But the man who starts an orchard 

 and is capable of giving it the right kind of treatment is surer of success 

 than a farmer in any other line. We must cultivate, we must spray, we 

 must thin our fruit if we would get a profit out of it. Every year it be- 

 comes more apparent that the supply of good fruit is far below the de- 

 mand, and the successful grower is realizing larger profits than ever be- 

 fore. We are sure that the possibilities of fruit growing is growing 

 brighter and brighter as the days go by. 



CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN FRUIT GROWING. 



The Man. 



BY S. H. PULTON, SOUTH HAVEN, MICH. 



No copy of this paper was obtained. ^ 



CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN FRUIT GROWING. 



The Soil. 



BY C. M. HOBBS, BRIDGEPORT. 



All soils have their origin in the disintegration of the rocks and in the 

 decay of vegetable and animal matter. The gravel, sand and clay come 

 •from the rocks; the humus from the vegetable and animal matter. The 

 different combinations of these substances give us our variety of soils. 

 When gravel predominates, we have a gravelly soil; when sand, we have a 

 sandy soil; when finely pulverized or ground stone, we have the clay soil; 

 when vegetable and animal matter predominates, we have the humus, or 

 light porous black or brown soil. 



All the higher or more useful forms of plant life are dependent upon 

 the soil for an existence, and in turn all animal life is dependent upon 

 plant life. Thus we are shown the importance of the soil to all life. Or- 

 ganic life springs from the water and soil, and largely to it returns. It is 

 written of man, the higher animal, "Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou 

 return." 



The composition of the soil largely determines the kind of plant life 

 growing upon it. In addition to the plant food held in the soil the char- 



