FRUIT CULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 



RUKAL HOMES. 



IT seems natural that every man should to 

 some extent be a tiller of the soil. In the pur- 

 suit of any profession or commercial occupation, 

 it is uniformly found to be a most wholesome 

 diversion and relief to become interested in the 

 culture of land. This was the original assigned 

 work, from which no man can wisely cut him- 

 self entirely free. There are influences which 

 spring from this close intimacy with the world 

 of Nature, unheeded it may be, yet powerful 

 in counteracting the narrowing tendencies of an 

 exclusively professional life. Would it not be 

 the wise course for all men of business to locate 

 their homes a little outside the limit of their 

 trade or profession, and in a place where they 

 would be diverted by an interested observation 

 of the processes of Nature ? It is not wise to 

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