120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



results obtained in their various experiments in fruit culture 

 of persons in different sections of our country, and so varied 

 are these that the thought arises that possibly 1 may shed 

 some light upon the otherwise unknown causes of failure in 

 securing adequate compensation for the labor expended in 

 the production of crops. 



I have found that the only way I could determine the 

 value of any particular kind of fruit, to me, was to grow it 

 on my own soil, as there seems to be many kinds that are 

 like some people, very particular, and even fail to respond 

 to good treatment. I am successful in growing some kinds 

 of fruit that cannot be grown two miles away because of 

 difference in soil. 



Believing that successful experimenting teaches a better 

 lesson than any theory that may be presented, I trust you 

 will not think me egotistical if I draw from the records of 

 my own experience some results in confirmation of what I 

 may say in the further consideration of this subject. 



The three o:reat essentials that underlie the successful 

 ofrowing: of fruit are : character and fertilitv of soil, selection 

 of varieties, and proper cultivation. 



Just as sure as it is necessary to build a good foundation 

 under a house in order to insure its safety and permanence, 

 just so sure will it pay to prepare the soil in the very best 

 manner by fertilization and deep and thorough pulveriza- 

 tion before setting our plants or trees. My experience has 

 shown me that we do not work our soils deep enough nor 

 often enough for best results ; and this view is borne out by 

 the experiments of others, notably Professor Roberts of 

 Cornell University, who, on fairly good land, as he tells 

 us, without manure, increased the 3deld of potatoes thirty 

 bushels per acre by two extra cultivations and sixty bushels 

 by four extra cultivations. This was on gravelly soil, sixty 

 per cent sand, which was not retentive of moisture, but had 

 plenty of the mineral elements. This was in 1896. Again, 

 the past season, 1897, he has obtained three hundred bushels 

 per acre from this same land by cultivating seven times, and 

 ninety per cent of the crop was marketable. Contrast this 

 with results in a neighboring field, where but one hundred 

 bushels were grown, fifty per cent being marketable. 



