lier. If I had done this,
and had spent two hours a month in the management of it, it would now be
a thing of beauty and an income-producing joy forever,--or, at least, as
long as my great-grandchildren will need it.

There is no danger of overdoing orcharding. The demand for fruit
increases faster than the supply, and it is only poor quality or bad
handling that causes a slack market. If the general farmer will become
an expert orchardist, he will find that year by year his ten acres of
fruit will give him a larger profit than any forty acres of grain land;
but to get this result he must be faithful to his trees. Much of the
time they are caring for themselves, and for the owner, too; but there
are times when they require sharp attention, and if they do not get it
promptly and in the right way, they and the owner will suffer. Fruit
growing as a sole occupation requires favorable soil, climate, and
market, and also a considerable degree of aptitude on the part of the
manager, to make it highly profitable. A fruit-grower in our climate
must have other interests if he would make the most of his time. While
waiting for his fruit he can raise food for hens and hogs; and if he
feeds hens and hogs, he should keep as many cows as he can. He will then
use in his own factory all the raw material he can raise. This will
again be returned to the land as a by-product, which will not only
maintain the fertility of the farm, but even increase it. If his cows
are of the best, they will yield butter enough to pay for their food and
to give a profit; the skim milk, fed to the hogs and hens, will give
eggs and pork out of all proportion to its cost; and everything that
grows upon his land can thus be turned off as a finished product for a
liberal price, and yet the land will not be depleted. The orchard is
better for the hens and hogs and cows, and they are better for the
orchard. These industries fit into each other like the folding of hands;
they seem mutually dependent, and yet they are often divorced, or, at
best, only loosely related. This view may seem to be the result of _post
hoc_ reasoning, but I think it is not. I believe I imbibed these notions
with my mother's milk, for I can remember no time when they were not
mine. The psalmist said, "Comfort me with apples"; and the psalmist was
reputed a wise man. With only sufficient wisdom to plant an orchard, I
live in high expectation of finding the same comfort in my old age.