184 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



where the vine is to remain. Vineyardb 

 may in this waj be quickly changed to 

 V)3tter varieties. — American Ayricul- 

 turist for April. 



IS FRUIT-GROWING PROFITABLE? 

 N. Ohmer, of Dayton, Ohio, at a 

 meeting of the Ohio Horticultural So- 

 ciety, read a paper on this question in 

 which he said : 



" First the individual must have a love 

 or taste for the profession ; must be in- 

 telligent and industrious ; must work with 

 lus tjyei open ; must read up, and go from 

 home occasionally to see how others in 

 the same profession manage their orchards 

 and fields of berries. I have never start- 

 ed out on a tour of observation, without 

 learning something new and applying it 

 to my benefit. It you don't read up, and 

 get up, you will very soon be numbered 

 among those who do not succeed in mak- 

 ing fruit-growing pay. 



' • Tlie next condition I would name is 

 the necessity of having proper soil and 

 location. I would on no condition select 

 a low and sandy bottom soil, but an 

 elevated position, and good rich clay 

 loam, well underdrained, either naturally 

 or artificially. 



" I would advise a beginner to go slow 

 at first ; that is, not to plant too largely 

 of any one kind of fruit until, by experi- 

 ence, you know what does best in your 

 particular soil and location. ' But that is 

 just what we want to find out,' some of 

 you will say. My experience, in every 

 particular, will only apply to myself. A 

 beginner must experiment more or less, if 

 he expects to succeed. 



" I know a gentleman who, because 

 some other man succeeded in mak- 

 ing a big thing out of the lona grape, 

 planted two thousand dollars' worth of 

 that particular grape, ana the result was 

 a failure. Another party planted largely 

 of the Bufiam pear, and the result was 

 another failure. I migiit give you, in 

 twenty-five years' experience, souie grand 

 results with particular fruits, in specially 

 favorable seasons. For instance, I gather- 

 ed and sold, in one season, from three 

 and one-sixth acres, 54S bushels of Wil- 



son's Albany strawberries, which were 

 sold for near $2,000. From four acres of 

 Kittatinny blackberries, 562 bushels, 

 which were sold for near ^,000. From 

 one and three-quarter acres of grapes, a 

 net sale of -V 1,1 00. From a half acre of 

 quinces, $300 worth of fruit, &c. But 

 tnese are exceptional, and not general. 

 I therefore repeat that the beginner 

 must first try on a comparatively small 

 scale. 'This will apply particularly to 

 berries. < )f tree fruits it takes a longer 

 time to ascertain the value of any parti- 

 cular kind. I would therefore advise a 

 beginnu-r to make his choice principally 

 from such as are known to do well in his 

 neighborhood, and not plant too many 

 varieties, though you want those that will 

 ripen through the entire season. 



'' The time has come when it matters 

 but little about your being near a good 

 market. Two or three hundred miles is 

 now called a near market, and is so, in 

 fact. I live, as many of you know, near 

 the city of L)ayton, Ohio, a city of about 

 50,000 inhabitants, which might be called 

 a good market, and certainly it is, yet 

 but little of my fruit is ottered for sale in 

 the city, being mostly sent to other mar- 

 kets, generally to the North, where better 

 prices can be obtained. 



'* Of berries, I would advise to ascer- 

 tain, by experience, what varieties do best 

 with you, let it be of strawberries, rasp- 

 berries, or blackberries. When you have 

 found that out, plant largely of those 

 that do best, never forgetting the fact, 

 however, that there are more failures in 

 planting too many acres of any one of the 

 above named, especially the strawberry, 

 than too few. 1 know a man who had 

 made a great success with an acre or two 

 of strawberries, gathering from 20 to 30 

 bushels per aay, and was so elated at his 

 success tiiat he concluded to enlarge his 

 fields — and, to use his own language, said 

 * he would nereafter gather 100 bushels a 

 day or bust.' ^ \d\\, lie busted ! You can 

 make more money from one acre of straw- 

 berries, well attended to, than you can 

 from five acres partially neglected. That 

 will apply to all small fruits, but especi- 

 ally to the strawberry. 



" It is hard for me to say just wliat one, 

 acre of any kind of fruit will net me annu- 



