PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 415 



which is only good for fruit, is not worth much, because it least 

 half of the time fruit will fail. It is like a man dying at twenty- 

 five when he should live till fifty. There is another point. Vine- 

 land is not the only place in the world, and there are thousands 

 of men who want to make the best use of a small capital, say 

 $1,200. Now. there are plentj^ of places in the west, near rail- 

 roads, or where they will come, which a man from the Eastern 

 States can reach in a few days, and if he have five, ten or even 

 fifteen children, and only $1,200, he can buy a farm of forty or 

 eighty acres, with house, barn, and already fenced, and have 

 money enough left to buy a team ; and he can start a plow the 

 next day after his arrival, and in two hours after, his children may 

 be dropping and covering corn, which will yield from thirty to 

 eighty bushels an acre. The land will grow other crops just as 

 well, and do it for years. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — I cannot agree to the statement that 

 fruit is a failure half of the time. Raspberries, blackberries and 

 strawberries, and all the small fruit, seldom fail. But I grant 

 that this is true regarding apples and peaches. 



Now, I wish to say that I was on the committee apj)ointed by 

 this Institute to examine Vineland, and I opposed the report that 

 was made, for the reason that I saw the soil was not suited for 

 general farming purposes. Men expecting to get a living from 

 the soil must be able to raise a variety of crops, and I don't be- 

 lieve that naturally grass enough will grow there to keep a cow. 



Dr. J. C. V. Smith. — I have been to Vineland myself, and I was 

 pleased far beyond my expectations. There is a most thrifty, 

 enterprising community, and it will be difficult to find a place 

 east or west, where such progress, in everything that makes home 

 desirable, as I saw there. It is honoral^le to New Jersey, and to 

 New York. Let us not be discouraged in this way, but redeem 

 the land, that there may be homes for the poor of our cities, and 

 more fruit for our people. 



Mr. E. Williams. — I have refrained from speaking on this sub- 

 ject. I visited Vineland on the recommendation of the committee. 

 Manure has to be brought forty miles. Last summer I saw wheat, 

 oats and barley which were manured, and they were good ; but 

 when not manured they were not worth cutting. If there were 

 marl handy, it would be another thing. When I went there I 

 was astonished. They keep their cows tied up in little pens. In 

 almost every yard a ticket was put up, " For sale." Those little 



