26 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
THE COURSE OF EVOLUTION OF A FRUIT REGION. 
Fruit-growing is usually a comparatively late de- 
velopment in any region. The epochs which precede 
the agricultural occupation of a country are com- 
monly about as follows: Discovery, exploration, hunt- 
ing, speculation, lumbering or mining. The real and 
permanent prosperity of a country begins when the 
agriculture has evolved so far as to be self-sustain- 
ing and to leave the soil in constantly better con- 
dition for the growing of plants. Lumbering and 
mining are simply means of utilizing a reserve which 
nature has laid by, and these industries are, therefore, 
self-limited, and are constantly moving on into un- 
robbed territory. Agriculture, when at its best, re- 
mains forever in the same place, and gains in riches 
with the years; but in this country it has so far been 
mostly a species of mining for plant-food, and then 
a rushing on for virgin lands. 
The first effort in an agricultural region is gener- 
ally the growing of the staple crops, like the grains 
or bread-stuffs. This is both because the capabilities 
of the country are all unknown, and because such 
regions are far removed from the markets, and must, 
therefore, grow such commodities as can be stored or 
shipped long distances; and it may be said, also, that 
the growing of these crops in a new country demands 
comparatively little special skill. The second devel- 
opment is very often a stock-raising or grazing in- 
dustry. If the country possesses special adaptabilities 
for fruits, a man here and there will be found en- 
