384 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



bear handling well, and the perfect ones were 

 placed in half-bushel boxes and sent to my city 

 grocer. Not one defective apple was packed, for 

 I was determined that the Four Oaks stencil 

 should be as favorably known for fruit as for 

 other products. 



The grocer allowed me fifty cents a box. 

 "The market is glutted with apples, but not 

 your kind," said he. " Can you send more ? " 

 I could not send more, for my young trees had 

 done their best in producing ninety-six boxes of 

 perfect fruit. Boxes and transportation came to 

 ten cents for each box, and I received 38 for 

 my first shipment of fruit. 



I cannot remember any small sum of money 

 that ever pleased me more, except the $28 

 which I earned by seven months of labor in my 

 fourteenth year ; for it was " first fruits " of the 

 last of our interlacing industries. 



Thirty-eight dollars divided among my trees 

 would give one cent to each ; but four years later 

 these orchards gave net returns of ninety cents 

 for each tree, and in four years from now they 

 will bring more than twice that amount. At 

 twelve years of age they will bring an annual 

 income of $3 each, and this income will steadily 

 increase for ten or fifteen years. At the time of 

 writing, February, 1903, they are good for $1 a 

 year, which is five per cent of $20. 



Would I take $20 apiece for these trees ? Not 

 much, though that would mean $70,000. I do 



