164 An American Fruit-Farm 



of engineering, nor do we longer condemn agri- 

 cultural schools or experimental stations. Even 

 some seeds sent out by Congressmen actually 

 grow. We are discovering that the plain, every- 

 day, bread-winning farmer cannot afford to make 

 horticultural experiments, even were he so inclined. 

 The State must experiment for the general welfare. 

 This it does at the Agricultural Station. The 

 results are printed and distributed free to all. 

 This is not mere "book-farming" but scientific 

 farming; it is based upon experience. But other 

 people*s experience in horticulture, whether told 

 by lip or by the printed page, counts for little with 

 most fruit-growers. He is successful, if at all, 

 after many clostly blunders, most of which he 

 might have avoided. The serious aspect of a 

 blunder in fruit-farming is the difficulty of correct- 

 ing it to the advantage of the corrector. It takes 

 many years to get a fruit-farm in perfection, — ^if 

 that stage can ever be reached. Few can afford to 

 lose fifteen or twenty years by a blunder in setting 

 out the wrong varieties, or planting a section to 

 the wrong fruit. The supreme knowledge for the 

 fruit-grower is how to raise fruit. This means 

 knowledge of climate, of soil-making, of soil-feeding, 

 of setting out the fruit-farm, and of caring for it 

 when set out. 



The fruit-grower is constantly confronted by 

 difficulties, even by obstacles in the form of prob- 

 lems of soil-making, of selection of varieties, of 

 cultivation, trimming, spraying, new enemies in 



