i62 An American Fruit- Farm 



gross product of from eighty to one hundred and 

 fifty dollars per acre. This income, year after year, 

 may be set against the larger but less dependable 

 income from berries and orchards of from two 

 hundred and fifty to six hundred dollars per acre. 

 These are extraordinary retiu-ns. But all land in 

 the Valley is not adapted to berries, to orchard, or 

 to currants. The climate encourages all the fruits I 

 have mentioned ; therefore the problem rests wholly 

 with the fruit-grower whether they shall be raised. 

 The making of the soil and the cultivation of the 

 fruit are his problem. Cultivation includes drain- 

 age, spraying, trimming, and fertilization. But if 

 all these be attended to and cultivation be omitted, 

 there can be no crop. 



The care of the fruit-plantation is both an art 

 and an instinct. Instinct ranks first. Let no man 

 attempt fruit-farming who does not like it. Let 

 him not be tempted by reports of large financial 

 returns. He will be disappointed. In fruit-grow- 

 ing Pope's famous line seems true: 



** Man never is but always to be blest." 



Let him who likes horticulture, and who has 

 symptoms of moderate capacity for success, not 

 hesitate to attempt it; some succeed; many fail, as 

 in every other vocation. Experience alone breeds 

 the fruit-farmer. If you trim cherry trees as peach 

 trees, you will not raise cherries. If you get your 

 spray solution too strong, you will burn your foliage. 

 All sprays are water and something, and the ** some- 



