MEN WHO HAVE SUCCEEDED. 



315 



then 100 years old, in a low and easy car- 

 riag-e, and drove among- the trees. She 

 picked the luscious fruit with her own hands 

 from the bending- branches, and was as 

 happy over it as a young girl. On the way 

 home she reminded me of her promise to 

 stay till I had one crop, and then with a 

 smile, and a trace of a twinkle in her bright 

 little black eyes, said, " Does this really 

 count for a full crop, or must I live a year or 

 two longer to fulfill my bargain ?" I assured 

 her that this would not count, and I had the 

 pleasure of showing- her two crops after that, 

 and taking tea with her on her 104th birth- 

 day, and it was not until six months later 

 that she left us. 



After five years of thorough culture the 

 trees had just come to full fruiting- ag-e when 

 three very severe winters in succession killed 

 all the fruit buds. Deeply in debt as I was, 

 and faced with necessity to maintain the 

 standard of culture I believed in, my friends 

 and well-wishers now advised the abandon- 

 ment of the enterprise without sinking any 

 more money in what seemed to them a hope- 

 less endeavor. Anyhow, they said, the 

 trees would live awhile without culture, and 

 it would be time enough to spend money on 

 them when they showed some sig-ns of fruit- 



ing. But with my hand once to the peach 

 plow, I did hate to turn back, and then, 

 thinking how the Lord hates a "quitter," I 

 began hustling to borrow more money. It 

 was a hard struggle, but a record of reason- 

 able industry, coupled with good habits, 

 enabled me to find bankers who were willing 

 to loan money on faith and energy when 

 there was no better collateral in sight. 



In that first crop I was aiming tor some 

 peaches better than the markets had ever 

 seen before in any considerable quantity, 

 and I deliberately picked off more than 

 three-fourths of the young fruit, greatly to 

 the disgust of friends who could not under- 

 stand that I was insuring larger and finer 

 fruit. 



As the fruit approached ripening, plans 

 for marketing that had been years maturing 

 in my mind were licked into shape. It had 

 cost so much money and waiting to reach 

 this first crop that it seemed necessary to 

 get all necessary profits out of it. Determ- 

 ined to be my own salesman, I leased a vac- 

 ant store in the near-by city of Hartford, and 

 a month before peaches were ripe, hung out 

 a large banner announcing that a lot of 

 " Home-grown peaches, ripened on the 

 tree," would be on sale there after a certain 



Fig. 2364. Field Packing at the Spring Gap Orchard. 



