WITH A FOUNDATION OF WATER. 
A DOME OV A STRAWBERRY BASKET. 
Lakeview Fruit Farm Flourishing. 
“ And the rains descended , and the floods came , and the 
winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not; 
for it was founded upm a rock. 
And yet that rock was a strawberry—a substance 
that is 90 per cent water. Still, here is the house be¬ 
fore you—a home that any man might delight in. It 
is built on strawberries. Go down in the cellar and 
you would see the stone and masonry that make the 
thing extra at farming, but when the son began to 
look about for his life work, Mr. Taber said: “Why 
can we not do business enough on the farm to make 
a profit large enough to compare with other lines of 
business?” He wanted his son to work with him, 
and he had not been able to find a business in town 
that would yield him profit enough to pay for the 
labor and care. The result was that they bought an 
adjoining piece of land and began the cultivation and 
sale of fruits in a systematic way. For the past 10 
years they have grown small fruits largely—before 
that the chief crops were grass, sweet corn, etc. The 
years will give one an idea of the more practical side 
of the “ pay ” part of it. 
1892. 
Strawberries. 
.$2,KT7 29 
$1,607 
C8 
Raspberries. 
. 245 90 
406 
45 
Currants. 
. 65 40 
63 
08 
•Potatoes. 
. 360 00 
500 
00 
Sweet Corn. 
. 412 00 
240 
32 
Tomatoes. 
. 63 30 
111 
63 
Grapes. 
. 220 49 
3 75 
96 
Apples. 
. 44 50 
Blackberries . 
. 21 5S 
Pears. 
. 24 65 
25 
JO 
Plums. 
. 5 50 
Vegetables. 
. 6 76 
Sundries. 
. 185 41 
Total sales. 
.$4,022 70 
$3,363 
12 
The difference in sales for the two years is about 
iMfcfafCVj 
A FARMER’S HOME BUILT ON A STRAWBERRY ROCK. -Fig. 162. 
foundation, but back of all is the strawberry crop 
that gives steam and force to the whole place. 
This is another farm that we likj to keep track of. 
It teaches a different lesson from the “ one-hor. ; e 
Jersey farm.” The methods are different in some 
respects. Last year we had the first account of this 
place. Mr. Walter F. Taber came to Poughkeepsie 
about 21 years ago. His chief object in coming to 
town was to give his son the advantages of a good 
schooling. In looking about for a residence he 
found a small place just outside the city limits. It 
was a broken-down place, but he'bought it, conclud¬ 
ing : t would be cheaper to live on such a place, with its 
land to cultivate, than to buy a place in the city. 
During the first years he did not attempt to do any- 
whole farm comprises about 45 acres, with less than 
30 under actual cultivation. It will be seen from this 
that the origin of Mr. Taler’s farming was different 
in many respects from anything we have previously 
described. He simply found the farm a better place 
to invest his money and interest his son than any 
other line of business that he could find. So much 
for profitable farming. 
Bringing Forth Good Fruit. 
Careful and accurate work with study and experi¬ 
ment with new things has enabled the Tabers to 
“ make farming pay.” See that beautiful home in the 
picture—that is one way in which the farm pays. 
The following table of total sales for the past two 
equal to the difference in the value of the strawberry 
crop. Last season was so wet that the crop was con¬ 
siderably injured. One year with another, however, 
the sales will run not far from .$4,000 a year. The 
fruit is almost all sold in Poughkeepsie, at local mar¬ 
kets, or to private customers. Some berries and 
most of the grapes are sent to New York, but 
the local market is most important and the greatest 
care is taken to provide perfect fruit in clean, neat 
packages — promptly delivered. The younger Mr. 
Taber makes it his business to attend to the delivery, 
while his father stays in the packing house to see that 
the packages go out in proper shape. No man can afford 
to go to sleep or go visiting during the picking season, 
if he grows berries for profit. 
