The Fruit-Farm and the Young Folks 231 



the Valley to-day produces a greater tonnage 

 of fruit, and finer fruit of its kind, than is produced 

 on any equal area in Etuope. 



Is the soil failing? Are diseases of fruit, insect, 

 and fungous enemies increasing as the years pass? 

 It appears not. We have cut away the original 

 forest; we have changed the face of Nature; we 

 have destroyed the plants, trees, shrubs, flowers, 

 weeds on which these our enemies feed in the wild ; 

 hence they are driven to our orchards and vine- 

 yards for a livelihood. There is nothing new imder 

 the sun even among insect pests and fungi ; we are 

 reaping the harvest our civilization has sown. 

 And as the land is more and more deforested, as 

 the wild is more and more subjected to man, we 

 may expect discovery of new insect pests and new 

 fungi. The next generation must deal with these 

 evils, for surely it will be confronted by them. 

 More people, better markets, higher prices, — ^this is 

 the outlook for the country at large. There remain 

 the three dimensions of fruit-culture: climate, soil, 

 and the man. Climate is unchangeable; the soil 

 and the man remain. Man makes the soil. The 

 keeping of all the valleys is in his hands, — ^the 

 next generation and all that shall come hereafter. 

 "Remember, friends, to-morrow is another day,** 

 runs the ancient Arabian proverb. That other 

 day may mean in truth another Valley than this we 

 see, for the man of to-morrow is not the man of 

 to-day. 



We are come at last to the supreme interest of 



