i8 An American Fruit-Farm 



Way back in the Middle Ages men sang this 

 little verse, — and it was made in Germany. Some 

 have learned it in America. Every fruit-grower 

 should learn it by heart and frame it in orchard 

 and vineyard. It looks very pretty on the face 

 of the farmer's clock. It is always reflected in 

 the cheery face of the successful fruit-grower. I 

 know would-be fruit-growers who have never 

 learned it; never practiced it. They demand 

 ''bumper crops" every year of orchard and vine- 

 yard and curse the barren trees because they do 

 not give something for nothing. By and by their 

 fruit-farms are for sale. Sometimes the sheriff 

 wants the farm so badly he takes it. Then the 

 late owner will tell you how to raise fruit, much as 

 the man whose horse has been stolen tells you how 

 to lock the barn. "It is better," says Cato, "to 

 buy from a man who has farmed successfully and 

 built well." And again: "When you inspect the 

 farm, look to see how many wine-presses and stor- 

 age vats there are; where there are none of these, 

 you can judge what the harvest is. Know that 

 with a farm, as with a man, however productive 

 it may be, if it has the spending habit, not much 

 will be left over." 



Feed the land at the right time; care for it in 

 season and you will harvest in season. It seems 

 a simple rule, yet its simplicity is its difficulty. 

 The unselfish man begins with his land: "I feed 

 you; you feed me"; this is his working formula. 

 Something for something, but never something for 



