THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 35 



you could walk over the field, dig your toe in and find fire 

 still there. 



Then came the question. This field had cost me money, we 

 had spent some time clearing it, and the cost of a hundred 

 pounds of dynamite to the acre stared me in the face, as well 

 as an empty bank account. I wanted to get the grass growing, 

 and so I put men at work there on that 75 acres, lining for 

 apple trees. This was difficult work, as sometimes a tree 

 ought to come right where there was a rock. It was not 

 possible to use a spade, and so we followed along with a crow- 

 bar, and we also used a lot of dynamite. The ground was 

 hard, and we had to blow it up. If a rock or stump was in 

 the way, this was the method we pursued. The cost of dig- 

 ging holes with dynamite was not, on the average, any more 

 than digging with a pick or spade. Sometimes it would take 

 one-eighth, of a pound, sometimes one-quarter, and sometimes 

 even one-half, but the average was not one-quarter pound. 

 When the holes were dug in that way the field was planted 

 with apples, and I have been waiting to know what I should 

 do to get returns. I haven't the exact figures, but the cost 

 of the rough, rocky fields that have been cleared runs all the 

 way from $200 to $400 per acre, a pretty big proposition, and 

 if I thought I had got to pay the bills I would not do it ; but I 

 am hoping the consumer of the fruit will pay the bills, and I 

 am waiting for the profit. To be sure, I advanced the money, 

 but I am looking for it to come back. 



An Italian man, whom I had at work with me for some 

 years, said to me one day, "Mr. Hale, why you no plant 

 peaches in there?" I said, "It is too rough. Peaches won't 

 grow without tilling." (I mean I think so, Brother Colling- 

 wood.) But the Italian said, "You give me the contract, and 

 I will make them grow." I replied, "How are you going to 

 dD it?" He said, "Well, I will put some Italian men there 

 and we will keep grubbing and grubbing, and we will make 

 them grow. We will make them grow like h — 1." So I closed 

 the contract with him. I thought he had said "make them 

 grow like hail" and I felt pretty good, but I am trying to 

 make them grow like "Hale," and he is trying to make them 

 grow like h — 1 also. That is all I can say about it. These 

 fields cost a great deal of money to prepare to till, but they 



