farmers' institutes. 657 



gi-owiug such crops at such prices. The farm packer should be willing to 

 pay more, wheu possible, to his neighbors than the city packer offers, aud 

 in most instances this is done. Sometimes this is impossible, for the farm 

 packer labors under many difficulties that can not be overcome in compet- 

 ing with his large competitors where they turn out thousands to the small 

 packer's one, reducing the cost to a minimum with their impro\^ed and 

 labor-saving machinery, doing away with much hand labor. In some cases 

 they can sell at a profit to the small packer for less than it cost him to 

 pack the same article. 



The only way that a farm packer can pay more for produce and com- 

 pete with the large factories is by putting up a superior article that will 

 command a higher price. This he can do, as all his goods are hand- 

 packed and thoroughly inspected before being canned. He is also able 

 to look after the details of the business himself and not rely on someone 

 else that is not directly interested. He does not have as much expensive 

 machinery to break or wear out. nor high city taxes to meet. 



The chief crops consumed by the farm packer are tomatoes and 

 peaches. The factory can also consume large quantities of plums, apples, 

 pears, and all the small fruits, as well as beans, both green and dry, peas, 

 corn, beets, cabbage, squash and pumi)kin, in the vegetable line. 



It is not advisable, neither is it necessary, for every farmer to become 

 a packer, for one factory in a neighborhood can consume all the produce 

 to a better advantage than two or more. 



It would be to the interest of the farmers of this part of the State to 

 devote more time and attention to the growing of more fruits and vegeta- 

 bles which their soil will produce to perfection, and encourage the estab- 

 lishment of more canning factories on the farm. 



HOW TO PLANT AND CARE FOR AN ORCHARD. 



WILBUR C. STOUT, MONBOVIA, IND. 



[Paper prepared for the Farmers' Institute held at Martinsville. 1 



In writing this paper I have tried to give just how I plant and care 

 for an orchard, and have avoided every appearance of "red tape," so often 

 found in horticultural papers and written by persons who have never 

 planted a single tree in their life. 



My experience has taught me that land for peach trees should be fer- 

 tile enough to produce, in an average year, at least 35 bushels of corn per 

 acre; apple, pear, etc., 50 bushels or more, while for plum, "if the drain- 

 age is perfect," it can scarcely be made too fertile. In setting fruit trees, 



42 — Agriculture. 



