Feeding the Land 209 



primary fact is that land must be fed, if fruit is 

 to be raised, — and fed generously. In the Lake 

 Shore Valley, a natural fruit-belt, the land is badly 

 fed. Cropping is the custom. Despite this abuse 

 of the land, crops are heavy and profitable. Pro- 

 [per feeding of the land would greatly increase crops; 

 [increase profits, and in no important degree in- 

 [crease labor. An acre of land that produces five 

 .hundred dollars gross or, as oftentimes, net, in the 

 it Valley, is entitled to a full meal. If it feeds 

 [you, you should feed it. We farm in the soil, 

 not in a book. Were the young fruit-grower to 

 depend upon the book alone, he might think that 

 [he had only light farming to do; that with a ferti- 

 lizer factory, a contract with a commission-house, 

 and an auto he would wind the machinery of his 

 farm and simply stand by, in dress-suit and kid 

 gloves, to take in the profits. He like all others 

 must follow the farming experience of the ages. The 

 world has been very slow to learn the art of fruit- 

 farming. The grand rule in farming is to accumu- 

 late humus in the soil, first, last, and all the time, 

 and to keep circulation of the moisture and gases 

 within the soil ever active. Plainly, the fruit- 

 grower is a soil-maker. He cannot change climate; 

 he cannot change the habits of the plant ; he cannot 

 change the chemical laboratory beneath his feet ; he 

 cannot change the food of the plant and have any 

 plant left to feed. All he can do is to align himself 

 strictly with Nature. The wind moves the ship, 

 but whether to port or to wreck depends upon the 

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