288 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Of?. Doc. 



would eggs; bruised fruit is not profitable. Use a basket to piclc 

 in; not a grain bag slung over your shoulder. Keep in a cool, dry 

 place, sort over from time to time, and iliere Avill be a '^profit in fruit 

 grov\dng." 



To sum up, buy good, thrifty trees, from a reliable nursery, or from 

 an agent rejjresenting a reliable nursery. Plant carefully in soil 

 adapted to kind of fruit you want to grow. If -you do not understand 

 the pruning of tops and roots at planting time, employ some one who 

 has had experience to do the work for you. Cultivate thoroughly, 

 for on this depends a strong healthy growth. 



THE IDEAL FARMER. 



BY FRANK T. GERNET, Nazareth, Pa. 



READ AT MOORESTOWN INSTITUTE, NORTHAMPTON CO., JAN. 8, 1901. 



The ideal farmer, whom we may also call the successful farmer, 

 needs very little in the form of an introduction. If you pass a place 

 where your e^'e is attracted by a beautiful house standing in the 

 midst of a lovely lawn, wherein the grass is constantly kept short 

 with a lawn mower, causing it to have a green, velvet appearance, 

 with all kinds of shrubbery, flower beds and shade trees, under which 

 is hanging a hammock; where winding walks lead from the gates 

 up to the house, and on out to the barn, which together with all other 

 out-buildings present the same air of tidyness; where the fences are 

 all in good condition, no brush or weeds to be seen along the road- 

 side; where the fields are laden with the heaviest crojjs attainable; 

 where all animals from the horse down to the dog and cat are in 

 good condition. If j'ou pass such a place, it is the home of the ideal 

 Farmer, the one that all of us should endeavor to imitate. 



There is a great difference between the ideal farmer and the farmer 

 that is so often called nowadays a successful farmer. The former is 

 always successful financially ,and his chief aim in life is to make his 

 fields as fertile as a garden, his home as lovely as though it was to be 

 his everlasting abode. The plan of the latter is to make money, to 

 let his buildings and fences become dilapidated, his fields exhausted 

 in fertility, his cattle suffer for want of proper food and treatment; 

 and as soon as all his debts are paid and enough left to buy a house 

 and lot, he rents his place and moves to town, where he will often 

 wonder why his tenant is not able to make money as fast as he did. 

 What a pity it is that we have so many so-called successful and so 



