22 
IAN. io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
reajh the right age. The grapes are just coming into 
bearing, and one 15 acre vineyard yielded a ton to the 
acre this season, which ripened 10 days earlier than those 
in any other vineyard in the State. The apple orchards, 
like those on common farms, refused to bear this season, 
although I believe Mr. White did have a few apples on one 
tree until the wind blew them off one night. Besides at¬ 
tending to fruit, Mr. White raises considerable garden 
truck. This year he had 40 acres of celery, 35 acres of 
Hubbard Squash, 15 acres of tomatoes, and an asparagus 
bed of 7 acres. The celery grown on his flat compares 
very favorably, both as to quality and yield, with the 
famous Kalamazoo and Jackson celery. The grain and 
hay crops were good this year, and added not a little to 
the income of the farm. The shipping facilities 
are very good, there being two railroads running 
through the farm, with side tracks and ware¬ 
houses on each. Telegraph and telephone wires 
run into the private office at the house, so that 
in five minutes’ time before breakfast the owner 
can acquaint himself with the markets in the 
leading cities of a dozen States, and know just 
where to and where not to ship his fruit or truck 
of that day’s picking. A few years ago he erected 
a large evaporator on one corner of his farm, 
with a daily capacity of 2,000 bushels of apples, 
and 300 bushels of berries, so that he is practically 
independent of the markets, and none of his 
fruit is allowed to waste. Near the evaporator 
there is a salt block employing 20 men that has 
been in successful operation for a number of 
years, and Mr. White is one of the leading stock¬ 
holders. Early this fall in trying to make ar¬ 
rangements for the sale of his tomatoes to a 
neighboring canning factory he came to the con¬ 
clusion that he was not offered a fair price for 
the tomatoes, and ordered a complete canning 
outfit, and in less than a week’s time had a can 
ning factory of his own in operation. It would 
not be fitting to close the description of the 
place without giving a short sketch of the man 
who has made it what it is. 
• Mr. White was born in Nelson, Madison 
County, N. Y. in 1852, and is therefore but 38 
years of age. Until the age of 15 he lived on a 
dairy farm, and after he was 10 years old milked 
10 cows each day, drove the milk wagon, and 
was made generally useful as such small boys are apt 
to be. In 1867 his parents moved to Mt. Morris to the 
farm on which he now lives, which contained then but 105 
acres. Two years later an older brother died, and his 
father’s health failing, he assumed charge of the farm. 
Upon becoming of age he bought one half interest in the 
farm, giving $6,000, securing the entire amount by mort¬ 
gage. One year later, after harvesting a $3,000 crop of 
wheat, and other crops being equally fair, he thought 
best to purchase the remaining half of the farm, paying for 
it in the same way as before. No one knows better than 
Mr. White how hard he struggled for a half dozen years 
to keep the interest up on that $12,000 mortgage, and his 
experience during that period would not tend to encourage 
young men to run heavily in debt on farm land. After a 
few years’ struggling against fate he decided that he could 
not make both ends meet and lap over by raising common 
farm crops, so he turned his attention to fruit culture and 
trucking. His neighbors thought he was crazy when he 
began to set out fruit trees by the thousand, but time has 
demonstrated the wisdom of his course, and now his 
neighbors wish that they had been crazy in the same way. 
His fruit and truck soon paid for his farm, and then he 
commenced buying the farms that joined his until now he 
has 700 acres that cost him about $100 per acre, or $70,000 
To illustrate how much that land has increased in value in 
10 years, I would 
say that a short time 
1 ago he was offered 
$200 per acre for the 
entire farm, but re- 
'Jmmr fused it because it 
J-L will pay him this 
Si- ~ year $28,000 to $30,000 
net, an interest of 20 
per cent on $200 per 
fjjl acre, and this is an 
j off fruit year too. 
1 1 Mr. White is a very 
Jj fL. _ modest man and is 
j 1 loth to speak of his 
/ phenomenal success 
j for publication, fear- 
) ^ of it. ^He^claima that 
....... 
keeper.and shipping 
actually I did not see an unhealthy tree. There had 
been a hard wind the night before, and a few trees 
were broken down, but none appeared to be unhealthy. 
When Mr. White went into fruit growing he knew but 
little about the business, and of the first 1,000 peach trees 
that he set out but one survived the winter. But in sav¬ 
ing that one tree he learned the art of making peach-trees 
grow, and this vast orchard is a living witness to the ex¬ 
cellent way he learned the lesson. Every spring the trees 
are trimmed, and the earth around each is removed to 
the depth of about a foot. Then begins the search for a 
white grub which works just beneath the surface and 
under the bark. This “ grub hunting ” is done with a 
sharp-pointed knife, and one man will examine a great 
though the hen did not resent his affections, she did not, 
on the other hand, reciprocate them. He wonld allow no 
male or female bird too close to her while he was present. 
Every time the hen laid, he sat by her side till she came off 
the nest. In due time she wanted to incubate. 
Things all went smoothly till this time, but now Jack 
wanted to be master (as he supposed) of his own family, 
for when the chicks were hatched and with the hen were 
put out in a coop, Jack wanted to be inside with the chicks 
and seemed to want to take part in feeding them. This 
the hen objected to and hustled him out. When the chicks 
got large enough to run with the hen Jack was their con¬ 
stant attendant, and tried to feed them from his mouth. 
When they grew up he paid them no more attention, but 
kept up his constant shadowing of the hen. He 
now began to get a little troublesome. From 
the beginning of this attachment he left his 
house and roosted by the hen in the poultry 
house. 
As cold weather advanced and the house 
filled up he made quite a commotion every even¬ 
ing by clearing all the poultry off the roost for 
several feet around his hen. This caused so 
much trouble that I removed the hen into a 
fenced poultry yard, hoping he would not find 
her. The next morning, hearing a great hub¬ 
bub in that yard, I went to ascertain the cause 
and found Mr. Jack had discovered his favorite 
and tried to keep her company, but every time 
he alighted in the yard the whole lot—cock and 
hens—went for him in a furious manner and 
made his feathers fly rather too freely for his 
comfort, till at last poor Jack had to abandou 
her; but he soon paid his personal regards to an¬ 
other hen. This hen hatched in the poultry 
house. She was removed to a coop set out on 
grass with her chicks, and here Jack was 
anxious to proffer his paternal assistance, which 
the hen resented by striking at him every time 
be attempted to intrude into the coop. About 
this time his first love hatched again and was 
also cooped out. She also impressed on him that 
his presence was not required. 
Between his two unreciprocating mates Jack 
became very uneasy, and shortly afterwards 
vindictive and peevish, and visited his disap¬ 
pointment on the poor little chicks. He killed 
two outright. I then put little wired yards in 
front of the coops to protect the chicks, but he became 
so bitter that he stood and watched for the little things’ 
feet, when they came near the edge; he then got hold 
of them and pulled off their toes. Now came a crisis, season. 
Jack must be got rid of, or I must lose two broods of it pays, 
purebred Dorking chicks. As he had been very trouble- monthly 
some for some time I though it would be best to confine from w< 
him. I tried to get him into the hen house, but with all pose is t 
the cunning of his species, he perfectly well knew that horses, 
some change was in store for him, refused to be caught yet the 
and became defiant. Finding that I must stop his depre- season, 
dations, I took my gun, and with a heavy heart brought tions, t 
poor Jack down on the green sod. which s 
JOHN F. WHITE, FRUIT FARMER. Fig. 1 1 
' rrrT,T ' T ^r~- ^ lrrrrl( 
XraOirnrt 
HOME OF JOHN F. WHITE. Fig. 12 
11 
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