The Fruit-Farm and the Young Folks 235 



soil is well sustained for orchard fruits. If an acre 

 of land will produce one hundred and fifty dollars 

 in grapes, or five hundred dollars in cherries or 

 peaches or other crops, it feeds a voracious crop 

 and must itself be fed accordingly. 



Soil making, which is soil-feeding, is the prin- 

 cipal problem which confronts the next gener- 

 ation. It cannot be set aside. Just how to solve 

 it, each generation presumes to know best. In our 

 day the solution is largely left to the commercial 

 fertilizer factories. This means an attempt at 

 scientific farming. The Experimental Stations and 

 Agricultural Schools, as well as the Institutes of 

 Chemical Industrial Research, are working at the 

 problem. The rule of thumb in horticulture is out- 

 worn; yet intensive horticulture has made slight 

 progress in America. Men cling to old methods 

 because it is easier to cling than to think. No man 

 has mastered the art and mystery of fruit-farming; 

 he who knows them is of the next generation. 

 Therefore it is undoubtedly true that the hardest 

 problem which the next generation must solve, 

 or help solve, or at least attempt to solve, is the 

 problem of soil-depletion. Land is limited; popu- 

 lation, unlimited. Subsistence depends upon the 

 use of the land. It must feed an ever-increasing 

 multitude. This means higher cost of living; 

 higher prices for food ; a better market as the fruit- 

 farmer would say. The ntimber of bushels of cher- 

 ries or of baskets of grapes may decrease but the 

 number of people demanding fruit increases. The 



