Thoroughness in Fruit Culture. lo 



THOROUGHNESS IN FRUIT CULTURE. 



By J. A. Donaldson, St. Joseph, Mich, 



" Plenty of room up stairs," was Daniel Webster's reply to a young 

 man who inquired if the legal profession was not crowded. This is as 

 true of fruit growing as it is of the law business. It is not necessary for 

 a man to be highly scientijic, to succeed in the business of raising 

 fruit. Having a favorable location as regards climate and market, suc- 

 cess is pretty sure if he puts in practice the well-settled principles of 

 fruit culture. 



It is not enough to do some things well, and to neglect others ; for the 

 neglect of even one thing may be the means, sometimes, of losing, to a 

 great extent, the benefit of what has been done. 



This was illustrated, a few years ago, by a neighbor, who had a pros- 

 pect of a fair crop of peaches, in a season of great scarcity. When the 

 fruit was about half grown, they were attacked by rose bugs. He was 

 urged by the writer to jar them down on sheets, and kill them. He 

 neglected to do so ; and the result was, that his crop, which might have 

 been saved with little expense, and brought him thousands of dollars, 

 amounted to very little. The case of another neighbor, two 3'ears ago, 

 also illustrates this idea. He had given his peach trees the best of cul- 

 ture, but concluded he would give the job of thinning to the curculio. 

 The curculio having failed to do his duty, many trees, of some varieties, 

 were so overloaded that the fruit was little better than skin and bone, 

 and he was obliged to sell it at much lower prices than the fruit from 

 trees not overloaded. Had he given some attention to the curculio, so 

 that he could have relieved the trees without fear of the remainder 

 dropping afterwards, and then taken off three quarters of the fruit, he 

 would probably have had as much in measure, and from fifty to one 

 hundred per cent, more in 2:>rice. 



The same gentleman, by giving close attention to the beetle, realized, 

 last season, from two plum trees, ten years planted, sixty dollars. 

 Plums were scarce, and his, being very nice, brought him twelve dollars 

 per bushel. The time spent in catching the curculio, probably, did not 

 cost him more than two dollars. Had he neglected to do this, the re- 

 sult would, without doubt, have been little or nothing, and he would 

 have been ready to agree with some of his neighbors, that " ifs ns use 

 to plant plums." 



The fact is, it is the difficulties to be surmounted that make tlie 



