INSTITUTE PAPERS. II3 



and there are thousands of acres of such land available at ridicu- 

 lously low prices. Supplement these conditions with a flock of 

 sheep, a herd of pigs, or a flock of poultry, and the results are 

 wonderful in the growth of trees and yield of fruit. The fruit 

 growers of the irrigated orchards of the West are happy over 

 the production of a crop of fruit. Under the best system of 

 culture in I\Iaine, the orchard will produce an additional crop 

 in the growth of the animals that will thrive a large part of the 

 season among them. A crop of fruit and a crop of live-stock 

 products and an enriched orchard besides. 



Not long since the uncultivated lands of Washington were 

 advertised as great bargains at $400 per acre and were said to 

 be cheap at that. Cultivated lands were advertised at the same 

 time for $2000 per acre. At Benton Harbor, the great market 

 centre of Michigan fruit, a small farm of twenty acres with only 

 small buildings upon it was recently purchased for $10,500, or 

 at the rate of $525 per acre without reference to the buildings. 

 It takes lots of money to own and operate a fruit farm there. 



Eighteen years ago 80 acres of land by the side of a railway 

 in Franklin county were purchased for $350. There were a 

 few native trees upon the land which the owner worked over to 

 market varieties, and then he set out other trees until there were 

 about 2,000 trees in all. Nine years ago this piece of property 

 was in the market for less than $1,500. This property was sold 

 a few weeks ago for more than $5,000. A gentleman interested 

 in it said that in less than five years it would be worth $8,000, 

 and extravagant as this may seem to some people, it is only at 

 the rate of $4 per tree. With good care there will not be a tree 

 on that lot that will not produce from one to ten barrels of fruit. 

 At $2 per barrel this will yield a revenue of $2,000 a year if only 

 the minimum yield is taken. Should the trees under good man- 

 agement yield an average of two barrels the revenue would be 

 doubled, or $4,000. 



Thousands of acres of good orchard land in Maine may be 

 had for $10 per acre or even less, and there are more or less bar- 

 gains in orchard lands like that mentioned, where some trees 

 are set and need only the care of an intelligent and skillful man 

 to produce big money for the purchaser. The opportunities are 

 here waiting for the men to pick them up. 



A young man only a few months ago in an Androscoggin town 



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