There are great possibilities in raspberries and blackberries, for the 
demand at the present time far exceeds the supply 
In peaches, apples, pears and plums there are splendid possibilities, 
particularly in combination with poultry 
cision backed by undeviating honesty, where frequent shallow cul¬ 
tivation keeps the orchard as clean as a nature lover’s flower bed 
and preserves for the use of the swelling fruits every atom of food, 
together with every drop of moisture with which the winter snows 
and spring rains have filled the ground—orchards such as these 
bear out the statement. All these modern methods have united 
to overwhelm the owner of the enormous orchards that receive at 
best but half the needed attention to the details which long ago 
were proven to pay in real bankable money. 
Americans are beginning to learn that ten acres of alfalfa pay 
far better than forty of the best timothy that ever went down 
under the blades of the mowing-machine; that an acre of straw¬ 
berries will yield annually a net profit twenty times as great as 
that garnered by the grain grower in the best season chance has 
brought him. So, too, the American is learning fast that quality 
pays far better than quantity, and further, that the maximum 
yield of any acre of any crop has not yet been reached; that a 
yield of one hundred bushels of potatoes to the acre can be, by 
common-sense practices, pushed to four hundred with but a frac¬ 
tion’s increase in cost; and that methods proven correct in other 
mercantile pursuits and professions are equally valuable in agri¬ 
culture. 
Experimental farms, established in the “scrub-oak wastes’’ of 
the Long Island Sound shore and the “pine-barrens” of the cen¬ 
tral section, were started 
primarily to demonstrate 
the fact that the tradi¬ 
tions and even the scien¬ 
tific statements which 
had held them as idle, un¬ 
productive acres for two 
centuries and a half were 
truly without reason or 
foundation of any des- 
c r i p t i o n . This they 
proved in the year fol¬ 
lowing their clearing, by 
the production of over 
three hundred varieties 
of plant life and by the 
expenditure of only $9.50 
per acre. This was the 
cost of ten tons of barn¬ 
yard manure, applied to 
secure the humus which 
was lacking because for 
generations forest fires had devoured the fallen leaves from tree 
and shrub. These experimental stations were in truth “demon¬ 
stration farms,” not only of the fact that both local wiseacre and 
scientific expert were entirely wrong regarding these acres but 
that there existed an unsupplied demand for high-quality, strictly 
fresh food in the great cities of New York and Brooklyn, as well 
as in the big towns and villages of Long Island, which fairly lap 
over each other on both Sound and Ocean shores. They have 
also proved that the agriculturalist’s income can be made a con¬ 
tinuous performance, and not one month, one week or even one 
day of the year need be left unproductive of revenue; and that, 
after the extremely long out-door open season of sea-water-sur¬ 
rounded Long Island, his glass coldframes alone, covered by 
double glass, will mature a great number of eagerly sought veg¬ 
etable foods. 
Ten acres has proven, time and time again, not only enough, 
but, with a tremendous variety of plants grown in demonstra¬ 
tion of Long Island's capabilities, and for the selection of varie¬ 
ties best suited for Long Island’s conditions—not only enough, 
but a superabundance of area to handle in a thoroughly business¬ 
like way. For example, it is difficult indeed to combine with tree 
and bush and vine fruits, vegetables maturing from spring until 
early winter. On the market garden or small farm of any indi¬ 
vidual grower, such a combination would be very rare, for indi¬ 
viduality—a man's likes 
and dislikes — would 
quickly eliminate either 
the fruits or the vege¬ 
tables for the more 
pleasing or desirable 
line to follow. On the 
other hand, the com¬ 
bination of fowl and 
fruit has proven most 
satisfactory. Mixed 
orchards of apples, 
peaches, pears and 
plums, in which chick¬ 
ens are allowed to run, 
have time and again 
proved wonderfully 
free from insect injury, 
and the fruits have 
shown the beneficial 
results secured by the 
thorough work done by 
Long Island’s level inland country, with its particularly deep soil and nearness to 
the big markets is a paradise for the truck gardener 
