The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1894-01-25

stances, ,Faenever free choice can
be exercised. the controlling motive
with many is the financial prospect.
Perhaps the first objection raised
against the vocation of horticulture is
this: 1T don't pay"
If this is true. it is serious and valid
objection. To earn livelihood is the
first and most indispensable require
ment We have all got to live. and we
must first live before we can live well.
Food and rainent we must have. This
gold. rocky planet, with its harsh. ca
PRECIOUS climate, shows very little hos
pitality. even to to the lords of crea-
ton" Nature is grudging and stern
until wooed by labor and science.
Man must first work in order to live.
He does not live merely to work, but
he works in order to live. Naturally,
he seeks that kind of work, that voca-
tion or profession. that will best re-
ward his labor. Let Us see if the voca-
/ tion of horticulture does not offer as
fair prospect of success as full an as
surance of reward for earnest, persist
ent. scientific labor as any other honest
professions of life.
There are proba bly, few bold enough
to assert that the man who has a we'll
esta blished fruit farm or vineyard. 4
well located market-garden, seea-farm
or nursery, can not or is not making
good living. Yet there are many who
unhesitatingly assert that he who has
little or no capital to begin with, can
not live and thrive by following the vo-
cation of horticulturist. OF course
there are failures and risks to be met
in this pursuit. as well as in Others
Ignorance and shiftlessness will bring
defeat in horticulture as well as else
where. Here, as elsewhere, business
like methods are essential to good an
nual dividends With the same energy
and skill applied to each, l beliere
.here is no vocation which, when COM
pared with horticulture, is so certain of
financial success.
Carefully collected statistics show
that over ninety per cent of all who
embark in the mercantile profession CT
some form of trade, fail Although
this estimate appears large. it is easy
to see that large proportion must
fail, because i'll all branches of trade
competition is sharp and the business
overdone. If one hundred men attempt
to do business, the legitimate profits
from which will comfortably support
but ten, it is morally certain that
large majority must fail sooner or
later.
have never seen community where
there were too many horticu1turis.s,
while in most sections the number
might be many times increased. ard
the profits of each in no wise dimin-
ished. The means of transportation
and preservation of even the more rer-
ishablc fruit and vegetable products
are now SO excellent that market G; n
easily lie found for all frst-class arti-
cles- The demand for such products is
constant and ever-increasing, go, d
supply stimulating and multiplying it.
have lived in several of the best de-
veloped fruit-growing sections of onr
country, and l have yet to learn of n
single instance of failure where hort
culture was energetically and intelli-
gently pursued. while in almost every
instance moderate competence was
secured.
believe there is no voca tion that Of
fers better return for given amount |
of industry and skill than does this. |
Let me not lie misunderstood. There |
are risks in horticulture as elsewhere. |
and these ought to lie fully considered. |
Frost, hail, drouth and flood will some-
times wipe out the profits of year CT
more of well-dirccted labor. The hopes
of an equally bountiful and profitable
harvest may at times be blasted by tie |
devastation of insects and fungus dis !
eases. Some of these disasters are be-
yond control, but many of them can lie ,
overcome or provided against by judic-
ious management The really skillful
and thoroughly scientific horticulture
ist reduces these risks to the minimum
lie carefully studies the adapta bility !
varieties, he acqueints himself with
the characteristics and peculiarities #
soil and climate, he CLEANS all the in
formation possible as to the best meth
DDS of warding off insect AMI vegetable !
parasites; in short. the aid he receives !
from science, together with his own
well-directed energy and intelligence,
makes him master of the situation--
William r. Lazenby, Professor of Hor-
ticulturc. Ohio State University, in
Farm and Fireside.