Ten Thousand a Year 263 



their fold. And when the Society coolly requested 

 him to leave it his estate, he replied, "And I'll 

 not be doing when I'm dead what I'd not do while 

 I was living," and the Secretary retired in despair, 

 "for he had great possessions." 



But what — I hear you say — has all this to do 

 with ten thousand a year? Many a man, probably 

 no man, would be Alexander Neville. This one 

 would object to his Calvinism; that one to his 

 exasperating sense of responsibility; a third to his 

 ignominious love of details. But few there are 

 who would object to his income. Nor — as time 

 proves — ^was this exceptional. There are others. 

 The Valley has its Nevilles, like Shakespeare's 

 plays. To-day his results are more than merely 

 possible. Any fruit-farmer who has selected the site 

 for his farm, has planted it to the right varieties, 

 has cultivated it in season, and has marketed his 

 fruit with due care, may report "ten thousand a 

 year." It is not the big farms which always pay 

 best. Some kinds of business, some vocations, 

 seem to have their nattiral limits. I incline to 

 think this of fruit-farming. Neville set the limit 

 of thirty-five acres for vineyards; I accept the 

 limit. But he really made his vineyards yield as 

 much as six times their area under the usual culti- 

 vation. So with his orchards. He intensified his 

 trees to produce each after its kind. He was not 

 fond of traveling many miles for a melon when he 

 could grow one in the garden. One of his most 

 cherished possessions was the grove, some three 



