Nevada County picayune., 1889-05-15
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 AGRICULTURAL.
Fruit Farming.


 great majority of American farmers. It is no longer easy, or even possible, to make a success of farming by pnr- suing the beaten tracks. To do as others do was once thought enough for moderate success, and anybody with moderate intelligence and aptl- tude for imitation could be farmer. Now that new paths must he beaten, the labor demands increased thought and skill. This fact is recognized i'll the assistance which the States and the general Government are learning to give to farmers. Once the body of hard working men, who drove the blow and reaped the field. would have repelled this assistance as unneceS- sary. Now the wisest and shrewdest farmers welcome any aid that can be given them by agricultural institutes, by experimental stations and by eNs perimcnts in the chemical laboratory. There is no longer fine scorn against book learning, such as formerly pre- vailed. The sclf-sufticient farmer of the old school has become an humble learner, and is right glad to get any help he can.
 IL is in fruit growing that the neces- sity for greater knowledge and skill Is most certain. ltpays largely but to receive this profit the fruit grower must give more time, labor and thought than are needed in ordinary farming. Some people do not believe this, but experience corrects thelr ! mistake. and are more disastrous than any others. If the farmer de- votes his land wholly to fruit growing and that fails, he has no resource. l This and the extra care, skill ana l thought required to make fruit cult ure successful deter many farmers from engaging in it.
 There is no certain and easy road to success in growing fruits. Once 1 it seemed as if fruits grew almost spontaneously Apples were com mon everywhere and every year. Then the trees took to bearing alter nate years. After while worms de vOurcd the leaves, or the codlln9 moth laid it's eggs and matched the worm in the half-grown fruit, that caused it to fall before its time. In stead of being the easiest fruit tC grow, the apple is from these causes one of the most uncertain and diff ficult After the labor of pruning maturing and cultivation has been done, the apple grower needs to sit up nights aud study entomology. or his venture will he failure.
 Attempting to do too much IS more common mistake of fruit grow CTS than of farmers in any branch oi their business. Berry patches poorly cultivated and ovcrgrown with weeds become an eycsorc, costing more foI ! their removal than has ever been made from the fruit. The same amount Ot labor expended on one-half or one fourth the acreage might have pro- duccd profitable crop. Even with the larger and more easily grown fruits, as apples and pears, the plant ing is almost sure to be beyond the ability of the wouId-bc fruit growers to care for and manure. The care needs to be two-fold, if not tour-fold, what was once thought needful. Manurcs once thought unnecessary are now required, or the fruit will not come. After few years wasted in misdirccted effort, the orchard is cut down, dug up, ar its owner sells out in disgust and engages in another business.
 By using all the skill and intelli- gcucc at their command, we believe that thousands of farmers i'll locai- ties adapted to fruit growing can de- vote themselves almost wholly to this, and make it not only more profitable, but more certain than any other branch of farming, It is not every section or soil that will grow all kinds of fruits. The peculiaritieS of location must be duly cared for. If experiments are made on small scale at first, and prove successful, fruit will be easy to enlarge the bus mess afterward It is not the num- Der of acres that give profit, but the sale as compared with the expense of growing the crop. Fruit farms of three to ten acres are better than larger areas, and if more land is used it had better be devoted to other pur-