PLANNING FOE, THE TREES 85 



for the autumn of 1895. I wanted to do much 

 other work in that line, but it had to be left for 

 a more convenient season. Hundreds of fruit 

 trees, shade trees, and shrubs have since been 

 planted at Four Oaks, but this first setting of 

 thirty-four hundred apple trees was the most 

 important as well as the most urgent. 



The orchard was to be a prominent feature in 

 the factory I was building, and as it would be 

 slower in coming to perfection than any other 

 part, it was wise to start it betimes. I have 

 kicked myself black and blue for neglecting to 

 plant an orchard ten years earlier. If I had 

 done this, and had spent two hours a month in 

 the management of it, it would now be a thing 

 of beauty and an income-producing joy forever, 

 or, at least, as long as my great-grandchildren 

 will need it. 



There is no danger of overdoing orcharding. 

 The demand for fruit increases faster than the 

 supply, and it is only poor quality or bad hand- 

 ling that causes a slack market. If the general 

 farmer will become an expert orchardist, he will 

 find that year by year his ten acres of fruit will 

 give him a larger profit than any forty acres of 

 grain land ; but to get this result he must be 

 faithful to his trees. Much of the time they are 

 caring for themselves, and for the owner, too ; 

 but there are times when they require sharp at- 

 tention, and if they do not get it promptly and 

 in the right way, they and the owner will suffer. 



