4 An American Fruit-Farm 



Therefore mingle the old and the new; the fniit- 

 ing vine and tree and the yoimg orchard and 

 vineyard of your own planting. Your bearing vine- 

 yard and orchard carry the btirden of the fniit- 

 farm; while the young vineyard and orchard are 

 growing, the old are bearing fruit. Many a would- 

 be fruit-grower interprets expectation as perform- 

 ance. He may read, or maybe is told, that three 

 years make a vineyard; seven, an orchard, — and 

 truly, but not a self-supporting orchard or vine- 

 yard. Seven years for the vineyard; six for the 

 peach orchard; ten for the prune or the cherry, 

 yes, fifteen; then tree and vine are fully at home 

 and at work; each has formed its associations and 

 bears plentiftilly. The inexperienced fruit-grower 

 must live while orchards and vineyards are growing 

 into productivity. These are the waiting, the 

 trying years, when expenses mount high and 

 income falls low, — ^unless your old orchards and 

 vineyards are bearing the burden and heat of the 

 day. It is the bearing, not the merely growing 

 plant that makes the fruit-farm. He is a wise 

 manager who has both. One hand washes the 

 other; the old vineyard buys the new one. You 

 will not mortgage the old in order to plant the new. 

 You will more wisely perfect the old in order to 

 have the new; you will intensify your cultivation 

 of the old in order to bring the new into being. 



Fruit-farming is becoming so exact a vocation, 

 things new quickly become old. Neither orchard 

 nor vineyard is planted or cared for as a generation 



