Ill 



the privilege of buying, but the Real Estate Agents told me 

 it Avould be practically impossible to find such a place. How- 

 ever, perseverance won, and I finally found my farm. 



My choice was providential, for upon that old, almost 

 abandoned place is an orchard of one hundred and fifty 

 bearing trees, with about fifty more that have not come to 

 maturity. No care had been taken of the trees in many 

 years, and as I was a tenant and unacquainted with the 

 place I did nothing for their good. The majority of my 

 trees are Baldwin with the fortunate habit of about half of 

 them bearing heavily each year. A neighbor bought the ap- 

 ples, he picking them all and taking only the firsts. The 

 rest I sold for cider, not knowing better than to sell them 

 all that way. Now I know how much better than to sell 

 them all that way. Now I know how much better I can do 

 by working harder and helping pick, sort, pack and sell the 

 apples myself. That first year I had no stock, and the sale 

 of standing grass and apples paid half the annual rent. 



The next June it became possible for me to buy the 

 place, so I began improvements. I hired the oldest Baldwin 

 orchard ploAved ; the younger one pruned. I engaged a 

 neighbor to spray the trees, but he did not get around in 

 time as he had too much to do at home. The plowing and 

 pruning did a great deal of good, my apples being of better 

 quality than the previous year. My early apples were sent 

 in bushel boxes to a commission house in Boston ; the winter 

 apples were sold to a store-keeper who took all I had, Bald- 

 wins and Ben Davis, packed firsts and seconds in barrels. 

 The remainder went as cider apples. My receipts the sec- 

 ond year were 75 per cent, greater than the first. Besides 

 the apples, I raised a good crop of potatoes in the orchard 

 that was plowed, enough to pay the cost of the extra labor 

 hired. 



This past year found me more anxious than ever to 

 care for my fruit trees. I had proven to my own satisfae- 

 tio that with care the trees would repay me for all I could 

 give them. All the trees were pruned, the orchard that was 

 not plowed the previous year was cultivated and buckwheat 

 sown as a cover crop. I made the mistake of having the 

 buckwheat plowed in last fall instead of leaving it until 

 Spring, but as it is almost impossible to hire a plowman 

 just when one wants to have him it may have been for the 

 best. 



