Sept. 1. mi 



were clear down in the dirt. I might be 

 tempted to call it a dewberry were it not for 

 the size of the canes, some of them almost as 

 large as a hoe-handle, and the fact that they 

 bear equally well when carried on a trellis 

 clear over one's head. 



The next point of interest was Glassboro, 

 N. J. Here we found an orchard of apple- 

 trees covering something like 400 acres. It 

 belonged to the Kepp Brothers — John, 

 Charles, and Albert. We were taken 

 through the orchard in a fine up-to-date au- 

 tomobile; and our host remarked that if we 

 could find a wormy apple on the whole 400 

 acres he would be glad to see it. We did not 

 find one. If I remember correctly they spray 

 their trees five times every year; but before 

 they got entirely rid of the codling moth 

 this thorough si)raying had to be kept up 

 three or four years. I have recently men- 

 tioned a single apple-tree in Northern Mich- 

 igan, from which the fruit was sold in one 

 season for $(>0.00. Friend Repp pointed to 

 a whole row of apple-trees, and said he had 

 good reason to believe that he would get at 

 least $50.00 a tree for every tree in the row. 

 The early api)les were being gathered while 

 we were there. They are gathered, han- 

 dled, and sorted with as much care as are 

 the oranges in California and P^lorida. One 

 of the brothers is constantly stationed in 

 Philadeli)hia during the gathering season to 

 dispose of the fruit to the best advantage; 

 then a fine cold-storage ])lant for placing 

 winter ai)})les as soon as gathered has been 

 made; and a very complete and uji-to-date 

 apparatus, for spraying by means of a gaso- 

 line-engine mounted on a heavy truck, is 

 used. The ground is jilowed in the sjiring, 

 and gi\'en thorough cultivation until the 

 first of .July, when all cultivation ceases, and 

 iveeds are allowed to grow to their hearts' 

 content. When I suggested sandy vetch or 

 some other legume instead of weeds, friend 

 Repp said that, like the i)oor, weeds are "al- 

 ways with us," or almost always; and he 

 said that, with their vast extent of orchards, 

 it would be a great deal of trouble to put in 

 a cro]) of any thing, compared with weeds, 

 which can take care of themselves. Of 

 course, the trees are carefully ])ropi)ed up to 

 IJrevent the limbs from breaking. I saw 

 only one tree where the limbs were breaking 

 down, and I think this was because the 

 props were not sufficiently strong. They 

 make their ])rops out of old rails, for every 

 fence that was originally on the farm has 

 been taken away. Said I, "Mr. Repj), do 

 you grow only apples and pears? are you de- 

 voting your time to no other fruit ? " 



"Why, yes, Mr. Root; we have a few 

 peaches, but only about forty acres. Per- 

 haps you would like to see our peach-or- 

 chard." 



Then the auto whirled us over there, turn- 

 ing corners and dodging obstacles at such 

 a rate that I was forced to admire friend 

 Repp's remarkable skill with the auto. With 

 the fifty hands employed, or such a matter, 

 it is really his "right-hand man." As we 

 approached the peach-orchard and saw the 



539 



beautiful red Carmans just ripening all 

 about us, he turned to us and said, "Now, 

 friends, we have in this orchard fifty-seven 

 varieties of peaches." 



"Fifty-seven varieties?" I said in aston- 

 ishment. But just then friend Belser began 

 to laugh, as he had caught on about the 

 pickle-man of Pittsburg. Then I continued: 



"Why, you surely did not plant fifty- 

 seven varieties in this beautiful orchard?" 



"No, Mr. Root. We planted only one 

 variety — at least we thought we did; but the 

 fifty-seven got in when we found them bear- 

 ing." 



Of course, there were not exactly fifty-sev- 

 en. He found, as most of us who grow 

 peaches do, that they were not all true to 

 name. Said I: 



" Mr. Rei)p, do you know of any nursery- 

 man on the face of the earth who will fur- 

 nish you 100 or 1000 trees, and guarantee to 

 have every one true to name? " 



He rejilied, "No, Mr. Root, I do not. Of 

 course, they will replace those not true, but 

 what does that amount to?" 



Here, friends, is in object-lesson. Instead 

 of trying to do all sorts of farming, as so 

 many of us do, this man, or, rather, these 

 three bright men, confine their attention al- 

 most solely to apples. They not only grow 

 more apples, but better ones, than the world 

 has ever seen before, especially in the East- 

 ern States; and by confining their attention 

 to apples, and having all.appliances and ma- 

 chinery up to <late for their especial crop, 

 they outstrip a world of people who try to 

 do a little of every thing. Their principal 

 fertilizer — in fact, almost their only one— is 

 basic slag and potash. The slag is put on 

 and around the tree first, and the potash af- 

 terward. They have had experts, soil chem- 

 ists, to help them choose the best fertilizer 

 for their business. 



On our way to the station our good friend 

 pointed out to us a great hotel, an immense 

 structure in which they had recently toward 

 a hundred guests at prices ranging from $2.00 

 to $4.00 a day. Now listen while I tell you 

 why this great hotel, right in the height of 

 the mason, is vacant and idle. Where they 

 make these big prices from millionaires, they 

 of course have a bar and sell liquors. Well, 

 the Repp Brothers, with other good business 

 men in the place, formed a civic reform 

 committee, and decided that they would 

 have the law enforced. They got a good 

 honest detective (thank God there are a few 

 such in our land) . This one was a minister 

 of the gospel, who evidently decided that 

 the Devil would have to be fought on his 

 own ground and with his own weapons. He 

 succeeded in getting such evidence that the 

 proprietors of the hotel faced not only heavy 

 fines but imprisonment. They got mad; 

 and, thinking to spite the law-and-order- 

 loving people of Glassboro, they declared 

 that, if the law was enforced, they would 

 dismiss their guests and lock up the hotel. 

 "All right," said the civic reform commit- 

 tee. " Shut it up and turn your guests 

 away." 



