474 AMERICAN- GRAPE CULTURE. 



of success, and disheartening the beginner with 

 the mournful cry that "it won't pay." It 

 would be surprising if it did. How can fruit 

 growing .be expected to pay where there is such 

 an utter disregard of the plainest conditions 

 which Nature has made necessary to success? 

 Fruit growing is a business, and, like other 

 kinds of business, has its laws, which can not be 

 disregarded with impunity; but, unlike other 

 kinds of business, it must be conducted as a 

 partnership, Nature always being one of the 

 partners. She, indeed, is " the head of the firm," 

 having been so made in the first instance by 

 u Him who doeth all things well," with a prom- 

 ise that she should remain so " through all the 

 ages." But this firm is in no respect a " close 

 corporation :" all who will may enter it. Na- 

 ture receives each applicant with a gracious 

 welcome, and makes but one condition. She 

 opens her great Book of Laws, tells him to read 

 them, and then says, with an encouraging smile, 

 " Obey these, and you shall partake of our 

 pleasures and profits : otherwise, not." That is 

 the contract we make with Nature ; and as she 

 has never been known to fail in one of her 

 promises, we may be sure, if we come short of 

 the pleasures and profits, that we have been 



