STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 37 



found several hundred trees completely ruined by mice. Determined 

 not to be beaten thus, I planted a larger nursery, set out all the trees 

 I had that would do, and took great pains to guard against mice. After 

 several years, when I had repaired damages and enlarged my orchard, 

 the grasshoppers came and the next spring I found 500 of my trees 

 dead and almost all of them damaged. I confess that I felt 

 sick for a da}' or two, but it soon passed ofi' and m}' determination 

 to succeed rose higher than ever. I then had quite a large lot of trees 

 in the nurseries and the next few years found me setting more trees 

 than I ever did before, and working hard to repair damages. Soon 

 after came caterpillars, and for three years it was a hard fight, but, as 

 I could fight them better than I could grasshoppers, I did it so suc- 

 cessfully that they did but little damage to my trees. 



I have mentioned only a few of the obstacles I have had to over- 

 come. In addition to everything else I, at two different times, lost 

 $2600, clean cash, and all before my orchard was any great income ; 

 and this has kept me continuall}' in debt, at least until recently. So 

 you see that povertj' and hard luck has been m}' lot. You may ask 

 what encouragement is there in all this? Well, I will tell you. I 

 have steadily increased the sales of fruit from my $400 lot from one or 

 two hundred dollars after the first eight or ten years, to probably up- 

 wards of $3000 this year, having already sold $1825 worth, and I still 

 have five or six hundred barrels of my best apples on hand, and my 

 fruit is increasing faster than ever before, with a large share of ni}' 

 trees not yet come into bearing. I fancy that with proper care I 

 have something that will last as long as my children and grand- 

 children may live. I have obtained this with only my two hands to 

 help me, and have all the while depended on my farm to support my 

 famil}'. Hold, I have made a slight mistake. My better half should 

 come in for a good share of the credit. 



A man, having made a fortune in some other business, may take a 

 notion to try farming. He can b}' lavish expenditure of money take 

 an old, worn-out farm, and succeed in making it the most productive 

 of an}' in the vicinity ; and have the best stock, and the best and 

 most convenient buildings and neatest surroundings, but at a cost 

 far above the money value of the improvements, or what can ever be 

 got out of them. This is one kind of success, but not the kind that 

 those of us desire who depend on our farms for our support, and 

 not the kind that many of us common farmers can stand a great 

 deal of; but no one is so poor, if he has possession of an acre of 



