CHAPTER X 



NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY {ContUmed) 



Garden Fruits 



We must have recourse to our blanks again in order to 

 find out what the children have for this most fascinating 

 field of study and work. The fruit-blank may be arranged 

 somewhat as indicated on the following page. 



With either the rich or the poor, every fact learned 

 about fruits, their qualities and culture, may be of life- 

 long value. To know how to grow any fruit to highest 

 perfection opens up a noble and useful life work. Improve- 

 ment of varieties by judicious cross-pollination is a bound- 

 less field for intelligent experiment and patient work; and 

 a gain of even a small margin in quality, color, flavor, and 

 size of any standard fruit is a service to mankind that 

 cannot be calculated in money. This work represents 

 one of the most ancient and noble struggles of man to 

 regain paradise, and it will go on as long as human life 

 exists upon the earth. No sooner has a "best" variety 

 been produced than by judicious breeding a better may 

 be obtained. Until recently this progress has depended 

 mainly upon accidental seeds. A seed gains a foothold 

 and some wise, thoughtful man notices that it produces 

 fruit better than its kind. He cares for it, and within 

 a few years every garden in the land or zone may be 

 reaping the benefit of his work. 



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