280 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



The berries so gathered are afterwards passed through a fanuing- 

 mill to blow out the leaves. In this way one man will gather 

 several bushels in a day. A very few plants will furnish a 

 family supply, and where there is a market for them it will 

 prove largely profitable to grow them for sale. 



Commercial Fruit Growing. There are many locations 

 in which growing fruit for market will prove a profitable busi- 

 ness to the man that understands it. To be successful in the 

 business, however, requires a combination of qualities rarely 

 found. The successful fruit grower must be industrious, care- 

 ful, patient, intelligent, and honest. Industrious, because there 

 is much labor connected with the business which cnn not be 

 trusted to others, but requires the presence and oversight of the 

 owner. Careful, because there are many things, which, if not 

 done promptly, will result in great loss. Patient, because he 

 will have many difficulties to encounter and many losses to 

 meet, and he must not be easily discouraged. Intelligent, be- 

 cause there are points to be settled upon which his profits 

 largely depend in all the operations of planting and caring for 

 the trees, selecting varieties, and disposing of the crop, which 

 can only be determined by wisdom and experience. Honest, 

 because the man who expects to retain his customers and sell 

 his fruit at a profit, must not "top" his barrels and measures, 

 or attempt to smuggle worthless fruit in the middle of his 

 packages. 



Thousands attempt the business of fruit growing and fail 

 for the want of some one or more of these qualities. They 

 hear of the success of some one who has a good market and 

 has thoroughly mastered the business, and without an idea of 

 the necessary qualifications they plant an orchard or set a plot 

 of berries, and the only one who makes any money out of it is 

 the nurseryman who furnishes the stock. The fruit grower 

 must be prepared to handle his fruit promptly, and know just 

 what to do with it, for many kinds of fruit will spoil in twenty- 

 four hours after it is gathered. It must be put up for market 

 in an attractive form, and such as the public demand, for there 

 is fashion in the way fruits must be handled as well as in other 



