STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 109 



Phineas, 3'ou have got another farm right down underneath here that 

 will be all riglit when you get hold of it." I didn't feel at tlie time 

 enthusiastic over that lower farm joke, but there was a good deal of 

 truth in it after all. 



Another point which deserves more than a passing notice is the in- 

 creased earliness of fruits or vegetables on a well drained soil. Our 

 experience leads us to believe that from four da3S to a week may 

 safely be counted on as the advance ripening of the same variet}' of 

 straw benT on well drained over undrained land on same soil and 

 exposure. This often means better prices as well as a better yield 

 and a longer season. 



Another point for which we ask 3'our special consideration is the 

 need of the best facilities for doing work. 



As you are fully aware, the cost of all manufactured goods depends 

 much upon the facility for doing the work. The best quality, for 

 the least manual labor is the desideratum of the mechanic. This 

 also should be our maxim. Hence money judiciously expended in 

 removing all obstructions that would impede rapid culture is capital 

 well invested. Farms and farm buildings should be arranged with 

 this as the prominent idea ; so too should- fruit fields and packing 

 houses. A stump or boulder, which has been an obstruction for 

 years, had better be removed and thus offer increased facilitj" for 

 speedy work. 



Another good practice is the occasional plowing in of some green 

 crop, clover being the best as it adds plant food in a readily avail- 

 able condition beside greatl}' improving the mechanical condition of 

 the soil. But one of the most important factors in the successful 

 growing of small fruits is the generous and judicious application of 

 manures. 



If a manufacturer proposes to turn out a large amount of finished 

 goods, he must have a corresponding amount of raw material, this 

 is self evident ; it is no less evident that to produce heavy yields of 

 superior fruit, a generous suppl}^ of plant food in its most digestible 

 form must be at hand. Well, the question arises, what? I think 

 the manure of grain-fed horses properlj' composted and fermented 

 excellent. Manure from the poultry house properl3^ handled and 

 fined down is most valuable. Contents of the privy- vault and earth- 

 closet properly reduced and triturated are excellent. Standard Peru- 

 vian guano is always good. There is no way in which fish can be 

 so well applied as to pass through a thorough composting and fer- 



