I 



■■ Ten Thousand a Year 271 



IV in a somewhat expensive way, on the theory that 

 IP "only the best pays best." But there are many 

 fruit-growers who think they cannot afford to do 

 things in the best way. For example, Neville's 

 expense for labor and for packages was higher than 

 any other grower's in the Valley, because he was a 

 I very particular man; yet, on the other hand, he 

 I always received top prices. His labor bill was high 

 because "he always kept the cultivator moving"; 

 he was ever doing something of account on the 

 farm. He estimated the value of his estate at 

 sixty thousand dollars, which was moderate enough 

 if one considers its annual production. Few invest- 

 ments of sixty thousand dollars yield an annual 

 income of fourteen thousand dollars, together with 

 house rent, food supply, poultry, eggs, truck, fniit, 

 and not last or least, 



"That peace of mind, greatest of all. " 



Whatever the income from the fruit-farm, we 

 come at last to the man himself. If he selects the 

 right site for his farm ; if he makes the right sort of 

 soil ; if he plants the right varieties of vine and tree 

 and bush ; if he cultivates in the right manner, and 

 gets his crop into marketable shape and to the right 

 market, he may expect a fair income — quite 

 possibly two hundred dollars an acre net. But the 

 man must think and do; ever think and do. Ten 

 thousand a year from a fruit-farm of fifty acres will 

 not produce itself automatically. The man is the 

 fruit-farm. 



