56 An American Fruit-Farm 



wild and the fruit-farm. The hand of man is on 

 the lever. Nature serves. Yet, let him once 

 drop the lever, cease his care, remit his domination, 

 and orchard and vineyard again return to the wild. 



Health breeds health. In maintaining the 

 health of his vines he maintains his own. It is 

 not a case of absorption but of use. "Use, the 

 law of living," writes itself on men as on trees. 

 We plow the grape row, not the porch floor. 

 Italians are said to ripen bananas under the bed- 

 clothes; peaches and grapes are grown in the open 

 by the touch of the hand. This is a mystery that 

 the owner can convert soil into baskets of fruit. 

 In digging for gold in the potato patch the farmer 

 finds it, in every bushel of potatoes. By tying 

 grapes in the winter the viticulturist is able to 

 pick off a hundred dollars an acre in October. In 

 keeping orchard and vineyard in health, he keeps 

 himself in health. Bankers, lawyers, — I will not 

 say doctors, — ^manufacturers, merchants likewise. 

 ''Keep your shop,'* says Poor Richard, ''and your 

 shop will keep you." Keep your health and you 

 can keep your shop. Men who fail in business 

 usually fail in health. Failure means disease and 

 sickness. Men lose their grip, and then, — "heart 

 failure." So prosperous people are healthier than 

 unprosperous. Like breeds like in all things, men 

 included. Incentive is health. This gone, why 

 breathe longer? 



On the fruit-farm there is always much to do; 

 this is a secret of health. Disease loves the easy 



