236 An American Fruit-Farm 



catalogue of prices for fruit is written not alone by 

 the depletion of the soil but also by the increasing 

 demand for fruit. Land is static; there are ever 

 more mouths to fill. The market is open to the 

 highest possible yield of fruit, and the yield per 

 acre may by intensive cultivation be increased 

 five hundred per cent., even more. The price falls, 

 if ever, not by reason of tonnage on old lands but 

 by temporary invasion of the products of new. 

 This ceasing, as practically it has ceased in Amer- 

 ica, prices become firm and tend to rise. The 

 problem then is to raise the fruit. There is ample 

 market for the largest possible production. The 

 increase of population consumes all the increase 

 in tonnage and demands more. And rich, well- 

 tended soil means perfect fruit in abundance. 



America now is far less fruitful than were its 

 every farm maintained at the level of highest 

 possible production with present knowledge. Fruit- 

 farming in America can as yet be said hardly to 

 have made a beginning. Profitable as is this voca- 

 tion, its possibilities are as yet quite undreamed of. 

 All now done is but a hint of what might be done, of 

 what shall be done by the next generation. Poster- 

 ity will not neglect to move along the easiest lines. 

 As the struggle for existence becomes more and 

 more severe in America; as competition compels 

 men to exploit the possible vocations, fruit-raising 

 will become more and more a technical occupation. 

 Necessity as well as opportunity will bring about 

 a higher type and order of fruit-growing in this 



