126 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



is no chance of having good fruit. Spraying can 

 be done with rented equipment and contract labor. 

 Having tried it, I know that here is one place 

 where it is better to own your own machinery 

 than to hire the job. All spraying must be done 

 at just the right time especially that done after 

 the leaves and blossoms form up. That time is of 

 course practically the same for all fruit trees for 

 miles around. But it will not be the same for all 

 kinds of fruit. Hence on the one hand there is no 

 certainty the sprayers will reach your farm on the 

 right day, since their work is crowded into short 

 seasons; on the other, if the job is to be done thor- 

 oughly, they must come back three or four times 

 for each spraying, as buds, blossoms, and leaves 

 unfold on various kinds of trees. Further, a change 

 of weather may necessitate a spraying's being re- 

 peated within twenty-four hours if it is to be effec- 

 tive. Altogether, no nurseryman can give the kind 

 of custom service a home-use orchard needs, at a 

 price it can afford. 



Not the least important place on the farm is 

 the flower garden. Without flowers there would be 

 small joy in the country. A priest once tried to 

 explain to me the theological distinction between 

 a miracle and a mystery, but I still stick to my 

 story: the flowers are the greatest miracle on earth. 

 Just why one seed should turn out a radish, the 

 next a head of lettuce, is somehow not so remark- 



