88 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



some reason a really well kept orchard, with all 

 the trees in prime condition, the fences in neat 

 repair, and not a superfluous twig to be seen, is 

 one of the rare sights of the country. It is also 

 the commonest sight to find upon one farm a 

 few trees which give a splendid grade of fruit, 

 while the next mile or two will show nothing 

 but apples or pears scarcely worth the picking 

 all because the man who planted would not 

 take the trouble to pay a few cents more in or- 

 der to get choice stock from a good nursery. 

 Of all the economies that pay least, is the 

 saving of a few dollars in stocking a young 

 orchard. I have talked with many of our 

 farmers about this, and almost invariably the 

 blunder is due to small economy ; they got 

 their trees from some one in the neighborhood 

 who sold cheap as compared to the prices of 

 first-class nurseries, and, as a result, year after 

 year, their orchards gave them half the returns 

 which would have been received from good 

 trees. My ambition is some day to prove by 

 dollars and cents that it is not impossible for a 

 city-bred man fond of country work to make 

 money in an orchard, for nothing that I have 

 heard to the contrary (and every friend that I 



