562 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



cannot keep ninny head of slock they keep n few good ones. Some 

 popular breed of lions or pure bred hogs can be made lo pay if a 

 man can attend to them. I think it pays best in this business to 

 take some odd breed, for instance, Red Polled for entile, Tunis for 

 sheep, and the Essex or Tamworth for hogs. In (his way a small 

 breeder will not have to compete with large ones and the novelty 

 of his stock will attract business to him, but no lazy man need 

 apply for the job. To make a living in this way a man must also 

 have a family of good size with some interest in his work. If the 

 people inside the house are looking only for a nice easy time, without 

 work, such a business cannot be made to succeed. Such a man must 

 be a good salesman, quick to know what people want, a pleasant 

 man to approach his customers and a good judge of prices, he must 

 be thoroughly honest, so that people will trust him and know what 

 his goods are before he shows them. A good supply of personal 

 cards or circulars will help. They should be neatly printed and well 

 gotten up and scattered broadcast over the country where he wants 

 to sell his goods. The plant business may be combined with fruit 

 growing, especially near a large town where people want to start 

 a small strawberry patch or raspberry plantation in the back yard. 

 A man can often do well by furnishing the plants and setting them 

 himself for such people. 



I have briefly outlined some of the ways the small fruit grower can 

 compare with the large one. He is not by any means in danger of 

 being crushed out so long as he takes up the w T ork in a business like 

 way and sticks to it properly. 



THE PRESIDENT.— We are fortunate in having with us Mr. A. N. 

 Brown, of Wyoming, Delaware, who will discuss "The Three Systems 

 of Orchard Management:" 



THE THREE SYSTEMS OF ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 



By A. M BROWN. Wyoming, Delaware. 



To the most casual observer it must be apparent that there are 

 many systems of orchard management practiced by orchardists. In 

 fact, much has been said or written upon this subject in recent 

 years a very large majority of fruit growers still follow the paths 

 their fathers trod, or hold some preconceived notion of their own, 

 whether it be founded upon either scientific or practical facts. 

 Again, we have another class who believe a fruit tree will bear no 

 matter what the soil conditions, or what the treatment, providing 

 weather conditions are favorable; and when a tree fails in yielding 

 annually her increase it is due to the weather or that trees only 

 bear on occasional alternate years. A careful study of the con- 

 stituent elements of tree and fruit, and a knowledge of soil require- 

 ments at once proves the fallacy of all such systems or lack of 

 systematic reasoning. 



No matter what the methods of the past have been, or what the 

 present are as practiced by many, my subject comprises the entire 



