Selecting the Farm 



47 



geology and its climate. The immense produc- 

 tivity of the Lake Shore Valley is due chiefly to 

 its geology — to the lay of the land, hollowed and 

 leveled, twisted and heaved perhaps sixty million 

 years ago. Three himdred feet of dead shellfish, 

 a mass of dissolving lime, is a strong basis for 

 producing fruit. Elevation, the northern slope, 

 perfect ventilation, the protection of a vast body 

 of fresh water, a coverlet of clouds in winter, a 

 deep and responsive soil, and primacy of location, 

 impart qualities which are rarely combined. 



Many are the rich fruit valleys of America, each 

 having charms of its own, but no man can describe 

 life in all these valleys. Climate, soil, and the 

 man are the three elements in every fruit valley. 

 The accessories are only slightly less essential, — 

 neighborhood, markets, transportation, schools, 

 churches, amusements, relationships with the 

 whole world. Any fruitful valley in America 

 might be taken as a unit of horticultural meastire ; 

 comparisons make heroes of us all. If I have 

 taken the Lake Shore Valley as a unit of measure, 

 it is because of familiarity with that measure, not 

 because other measures are lacking. The essen- 

 tials of contentment are not on a sliding scale; 

 ten thousand a year may not be had from fifty 

 acres in any fruit valley. But the laws of fruit- 

 farming apply in all fruit valleys, and whether 

 we live in the east or the west, in the north or 

 the south, in Pennsylvania or California, in Florida 

 or Michigan, we must obey these laws. We must 



