THE RUSHIRE FRUIT FARM, IONIA, MICH. 
7 
Will It Pay Me 
to engage in the business of fruit growing? 
I could, perhaijs, answer this more intelligently 
if I was personally acquainted with your pecu- 
liar traits and general make up. Circumstan- 
ces govern but you must be a Napoleon and 
make circumstances. 
It you are willing to play second to every- 
body else and comply with all the conditions of 
failure you will not get very rich. If you are 
willing to spend your time cultivatmg for thirty 
to fifty bushels per acre of small second class 
berries, with which you will always find the 
market glutted, 1 tell you most emphatically 
^ [No, It Will Not Pay. " 
If you are one of those energetic, pushing, in- 
vestigating, painstaking fellows who comply 
with the conditions of success you will do as 
hundreds of others have done, have a good fat 
living and even get' rich at it. The man who 
grows 
Big' Berries and lots of them, 
as he can easily do if he follows the directions 
pomted out in this bock, does not have to hunt 
for a market for all he can grow but the market 
will hunt him. 
He has everything engaged long before it is 
ready for the market. No matter where he 
ships they soon spot bis goods. He always 
gets his price without bickering. This was 
illustrated by a purchaser who went into a 
commission house on Water street in Chicago 
last season and was diiected to different ship- 
ments priced at $2.50 to S3.(K) per case. What 
are those? Inquired the purchaser, pointing 
to another consignment. Those are $4.50 per 
case. Let me see them said the purchaser. 
You don't need to see them, sir, they were 
packed and shipped by Parker Earle. That is 
satisfactory I will take them. Parker Earle is 
now reputed to be a millionaire and the 
largest berry grower and shipper in America if 
not in the world and this iUusirates the whole 
secret of his success. 
Money may make the mare go but it takes a 
man to make the fruit grow. You know more 
about yourself than I do, therefore you must 
answer your own question. 
l>evelopiiig' a Home Market. 
The great secret of developing a home mar- 
ket lies in getting every family in town to eat 
several quarts of fruit daily instead of one. 
It is utterly astonishing how much fruit people 
will use in the course of the season if you man- 
age them rightly. If they get tired of one 
variety, have another of different color, flavor 
and appearance for them to try. Don't allow 
them to think 
They Can g:o Without 
for a single meal and you will be surprised to 
see how quick it will cease to be regarded as a 
luxury but an absolute necessity. Teach them 
that a fruit diet means clearer heads, cooler 
blood and better equipoise of brain and brawn 
and will save in many cases its cost in doctor's 
bills. Bear in mind it's keeping people ever- 
lastingly eating that makes a home market 
You have a right to make your fruit look as 
Neat and .Vttraetive 
as you please. The corners of the bo.v should 
be filled up even and the points of the berries 
turned up, making them even and as full as 
they can be crated. Small berries look decid- 
edly neat fixed in this way, and the big berries 
can be put in the bottom to surprise your cus- 
tomers when the beauties roil out of the box. 
They will appreciate the joke. Never offer a 
customer berries in an old broken or dirty box. 
If berries once mold in a box the spores remain 
in it and they will ever afterwards mold very 
quickly. This is especially true of raspberries. 
Personal appearance goes a great way when 
calling on customers. The fruit should be 
delivered direct to the family, and it must not 
be mussed by rough handling. I had a fruit 
wagon built with side springs nearly seven feet 
long. It rides as easy as a boat. No matter 
how fast I drive my fruit is never "jumped" or 
bruised. It is handsomely painted and lettered 
in gold, and provided with a large gong bell so 
I can let people who do not buy regularly know 
I am in the vicinity, as I only call at the door 
of customers who purchase every day. Cus- 
tomers decide on what they want before I get 
to the door. I provide each one with a prop- 
erly printed season card which they bring to 
the door and have their order charged, and 
they pay weekly. Women don't usually have 
change and would go without fruit if they had 
to pay each time; besides, making change takes 
a great deal of valuable time. Vou will need 
to gain the 
