48 An American Fruit-Farm 



be careftil of the type. So the three htindred 

 square miles of the Lake Shore Valley hint at 

 means and methods quite as significantly as do 

 the larger or the lesser areas of other American 

 fruit valleys. 



It might seem then that farming is a profession 

 quite as truly as law, medicine, or theology. No 

 longer can farming be continued by mere rule of 

 thumb ; one of the oldest of occupations, it at last 

 is becoming exact, — that is to say, scientific. 

 There are thousands who yet do "light farming,'* 

 and they have their reward. The call "back to 

 the land" is a very worldly one because tested by 

 all worldly tests it is profitable. If the farmer 

 who owns the finest farm could at will turn it into 

 an oil-field abounding with "gushers,'' he might 

 not be unwilling to make the change. Many a 

 farm has suddenly become a forest of derricks. 

 The mere by-products of farming, — afresh air, pure 

 water, pretty scenery, singing birds, and ever- 

 changing skies cannot, as attractions, fully explain 

 the return to the land now for some years going on 

 in America. It is the products of farming which 

 bring men back to themselves and to their own. 

 Competition in every vocation is now so fierce, 

 farming is discovered as an open approach to 

 sanity and comfort. If this be true now when the 

 population of America is but one hundred millions, 

 what will it be three generations hence when popu- 

 lation exceeds four hundred millions? How shall 

 they get food? The land area does not, cannot 



