20 An American Fruit-Farm 



that of the plant-food you have deposited, — and 

 she ever will, howsoever much plant-food you 

 deposit. She always keeps a reserve; she is look- 

 ing out for her own rainy days. She must always 

 have something in the treasury. Earth and air 

 help you ; the laboratory of the soil turns out more 

 than you put into the crucible. It reminds one 

 of the transformation of nattual gas into gasoline, 

 yet nattual gas contains no gasoline. Surely the 

 mystery of fruit-growing is bewildering. Yet, 

 were you to hold back your pinch of potash or 

 wisp of straw, your land would not feed pounds of 

 potash, of nitrogen, of phosphoric acid, and of 

 straw to your trees and vines. 



It seems then, that Nature helps the fruit-grower 

 who helps himself. "With me you prosper; with- 

 out me,'* she says, "you perish." Some men, 

 considered by the world to possess monimiental 

 generosity, say to the charity: "Raise a dollar 

 and I will give you fifty cents**; or, if desperately 

 generous, they say: "Raise a dollar and I will give 

 you another.'* Then the campaign opens and 

 nobody has any peace; and the giver of the second 

 dollar insists that the college shall be named after 

 him. To the fruit-grower Nature says: "Give the 

 soil a spoonful of plant-food and I will give a ton.** 

 Nature is forgotten and the fruit-grower has the 

 tree named after him. And this is going on all the 

 time. Scratch the earth and it yields a cherry; 

 feed it and it yields tons of cherries. 



At whatever angle we approach the fruit-farm 



