Remedy is Diversification. 29 
ordinary. In fact, it is the ordinariness of it which 
makes it a surplus. Now, inasmuch as most men are 
ordinary, it follows that most things which they make 
will be ordinary; and it does not matter if we raise 
the standard of all men, the greater part will still be 
ordinary, for we have only raised the ordinariness of 
the mass. Thix would seem to argue that the great 
majority of fruit-growers—to specialize the problem 
—ean never really succeed. This demands that we 
define what is commonly meant by “the best.” That 
kind of fruit usually sells the best of which there is 
the least. It may not be intrinsically the best. It is 
simply that in which there is the least competition. 
The key-note to the business, therefore, is diversifi- 
cation or individuality. The grower should aim to 
have something or to do something which his neigh- 
bors do not do, although it may really not be any 
better than what they do. We are apt co be discour- 
aged by being told that “there is room at the top,” 
for if we all get to the top then we are all on the 
bottom. It is better to say that “there is room at 
the top and on the sides.” The best, as commonly 
understood, is really the unlike. 
If every occupation is already full, then it fol- 
lows that the choice of an occupation resolves itself 
into what one cares for and what he has capital 
for. He need have no fear of his success if he 
grows what people want, or puts it up so as to make 
them believe that they want it. In its common 
levels, fruit-growing, like every other business, is 
undoubtedly overdone, and there is only a vicarious 
