Editor’s Note: In 1912 House and Garden published the story of John Anthony's first attempt at orcharding. Last year again he told the fascinating story of his 
labors. This article tells what the third year brought forth. In these beginning years of his venture, John Anthony has combatted all the unfavorable circumstances of 
weather and bad Inch; yet he is winning. This means that he is accomplishing a great service in revivifying the deserted villages of the East. His undertaking is oj 
tremendous importance to this country and it bears watching. 
W E have not died of ennui, as so many of our friends pre¬ 
dicted when we left diem to come to this far-away farm, 
but we are finding more vital interest in life every day that we are 
here. We are developing an orchard, bringing renewed youth to 
the old trees and making the voung ones fairly sprint in their race 
toward bearing age. We are making a home, at once individual 
and worth while, and linking our interests in this hill country with 
the outside world. Success is in sight; we have onlv to keep up 
the pace. Health, hope and courage have alreach come to us. 
I came to this region of abandoned farms because I was tired of 
the restrictions and thraldom in which my part of the world had 
held me, and any change seemed desirable. 1 shut my eves to the 
seeming isolation and the consequent loss of mental stimulus, will¬ 
ing to pay any price for peace and rest from the hubbub of the 
juggernaut of to-day. 
Whatever chance there may have been for the latter condition 
was removed by the coming of Hrs. John. She thought that she. 
too, was tired of the things she knew. She was — temporarily. 
Up here her eyes saw the lacks and lapses which mine did not. 
and she straightway undertook to change them. First she began 
on me. She declared that she was in love with the John she knew 
from his writing, and didn't have the remotest idea of caring for 
the man she found me to be. John, of the pen, was inspiring; he 
carried her to the clouds, and with him she was content to live in a 
hovel, but she wasn't going to put up with a man who didn't ooze 
optimism and have a continual supply of faith sufficient for two. 
When we drove up the hill to this orchard, which was the pride 
of my heart, her spirit sank within her. In five minutes she was 
in tears. The promise of the future she could not see. Trees 
were trees to her ; the fine points of pruning, the dark green foliage 
•of health in the old orchard, and the vigor of the youngsters on 
the hill above them did not impress her. She saw only the need 
of paint and plaster; the lack of furniture and furnishings. She 
must have things, and have them right away. A rug and new 
shades were more important in her eyes than the fertilizer for the 
trees which were to provide the money to buy them. 
For months there was an undertone of unhappiness, the reason 
of which we could not fathom. Often it happened that after a 
drive to the village or through the country, we would return sub¬ 
merged in gloom. Abandoned farms mean abandoned farmers,— 
a community given over to hopelessness. An air of gloom and 
dejection pervades the place. Unpainted buildings, chickens run¬ 
ning in the front yard, farm machinery left out in the rain, un¬ 
kempt gardens met us everywhere. Even at home we saw some 
of these things, and Mrs. John feared that I had fallen into the 
rut of not caring. It began to dawn on us that we had not only 
to lift ourselves, but our surroundings as well, up to the land of 
hope. We must supply the enthusiasm, the life and vigor of 
everyone on the place. So we began to cultivate enthusiasm as 
assiduously as we cultivated our cabbages. The response was 
prompt, but even yet things were done only as we supplied the 
initiative. The very men who helped to plant and harvest our 
potatoes bought their own supplv from us: the helpers in the 
orchard and the packing house got their apples from us, although 
they all had land and bearing trees of their own, and could not 
afford to buy. They lacked the energv to plant and spray and 
harvest. 
This is not intended as an indictment of the farmers around 
us. Few people are able to rise above their environment, and the 
very ones who merelv exist in a listless community would be wide 
awake in a region of activity. Few country people have the 
{Continued on page 200) 
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