i8o 



Bulletin 307 



years of scarcity, 1905 and 1907. The yield of 25.7 barrels in 1905, and 

 of 18.6 barrels in 1907, places the poor orchards in alessfavorablc, although 

 truer, light. The four-year average yield of 48.4 barrels j)er acre and 

 income of $81 show that poor orchards are relatively a poor investment. 



On the other hand, the better-kept orchards not only produce abso- 

 lutely higher yields and incomes, but show much less fluctuation in yield 

 in the alternate years. In some cases, even, these orchards show higher 

 incomes in the years of lighter yield than in years of heavy yield. The 

 difference is due, in a measure, doubtless, to the quality of the fruit. The 

 fruit of poor orchards did not bring a good price. Therefore, in years 

 when apples were scarce, the few apples that the poor orchards yielded 

 brought a low price and consequently a low income. The price of apples 

 from the better-kept orchards was much higher in years of scarcity than 

 in years of abundance, and so the income was higher in spite of the low 

 yield. When both yield and quality are high, as seen in the very good 

 orchards for 1905, the income reaches an unusually high point, S243.07. 

 Five orchards are far too few to have much weight in statistics; but they 

 are interesting as indicating what might be expected from orchards that 

 are kept in excellent condition. It will be noticed also that these orchards 

 produced their heaviest yield in what may be called an " off " year, so 

 that they gained the advantage of high prices. 



The orchards classed as " good " and " fair " give results that are more 

 valuable because based upon larger numbers. All the average yields and 

 incomes of orchards in good condition run considerably higher than the 

 general averages for the same years as shown in Table I, whereas the same 

 figures for orchards in fair condition, with four exceptions, run considerably 

 below the general average. With the exception of the yield in 1905, all 

 averages for " fair " are below those for " good." The figures in Table 6, 

 therefore, show that it pays well to keep an orchard in good condition: 



ASPECT OF ORCHARDS 



By far the greatest number of orchards of the county are reported as 

 sloping toward the east; the next largest group slope toward the west. 



