254 An American Fruit-Farm 



nations, were rather flippant paraphrases and 

 applications of Biblical speech, but in his heart of 

 hearts Neville was a whole man, as one of his 

 neighbors described him, — "a fruit-grower with a 

 conscience and a bank-account. *' 



It was Neville's keen sense of responsibility 

 which made his fruit-farm the best in the Valley. 

 ''I put the responsibility on the other man,** was 

 his remark when his neighbors were complaining 

 of dishonest labor, tricky commission houses, 

 robbing railroads, and the crookedness of things in 

 general. "If I raise first-class fruit, pack it right, 

 label it true, and get it off my hands in sound condi- 

 tion, I am not responsible for results. '* This was 

 his philosophy. Again and again was he deceived. 

 Sometimes he lost, but his philosophy survived. 

 He learned what not to do. Somehow it was a loss 

 to a man to cheat Neville. If the commission- 

 house was the offender, it never again handled his 

 fruit. If the hired help offended, he never hired 

 the party again. If a picker put leaves or stones 

 in the bottom of the basket, he was never suffered 

 on the farm again. This rigidity of justice per- 

 vaded all that Neville did. He was as faithful to 

 his land as he would have the commission house, 

 the railroad, the consumer to him. ''You can't 

 say I did not feed you,'' said he to ''Socrates" one 

 May morning when he could find not one bud on 

 the tree. "You will have to do your duty next 

 year. " And " Socrates *' did his duty, — ^fifty-seven 

 eight-poimd baskets of cherries did the tree then 



