Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 1 93 



The Planter's Ideal.— Whatever may be 

 a man's undertaking, he should have an ideal. 

 In fact, v^e are persuaded that without an 

 ideal, success is rarely if ever attained. While 

 this is true, in all kinds of business, it is 

 particularly so in orcharding, and es|)ecially in 

 the matter of pruning. How wojild the car- 

 penter ever succeed if he should-simply begin 

 to saw off boards and nail them together with- 

 out any definite plan, model, or idea in mind. 

 He should be able, even before he drives the 

 first nail, to see in his mind's eye the whole 

 structure fust as it is to be when the finishing 

 touch is given. For he has had the plan so well 

 fixed in his mind that he could tell step by step 

 how it would look when completed. 

 ^ It is the result of constant effort put forth 

 towards the one end— his ideal. It is not 

 enough that we have an ideal today, but we 

 should have the same ideal tomorrow. If our 

 efforts are guided in one direction for a time, 

 then in another direction we cannot hope to ac- 

 complish anything, especially is this true in tree 

 building, as it takes years to complete the 

 structure. 



If we prune our trees this year for a certain 

 form or ideal, and then next year have an en- 

 tirely different one in onr mind and attempt 

 to prune for that, how can we ever hope to 



