No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 473 



SOME PHASES OF PENNSYLVANIA FRUIT GROWING. 



BY Prof. Jno. P. Stewaht. State VoUege. Pa. 



There aie two main divisions to fruit growing, the business phase 

 and production. Nobody will undertake the latter without some 

 assurances concerning the value of the former. Hence we first con- 

 sider it. 



The August number of the Western Fruit Grower states that 

 "the 1907 crop will bring about |2,000,000 to the apple growers of 

 Washington county, Ark." Fifteen or twenty years ago, under a 

 system of general farming in that county, the average yield of corn 

 was 15 bushels per acre, and the average price of land was |!15. 

 Realizing the barrenness of this style of farming, people began to 

 plant trees. Part of the result is indicated above. The price of 

 land in that county now, set in orchard, is -flOU per acre up. Or- 

 charding increased the value of the land nearly seven-fold, besides 

 paying an excellent profit to the holder. 



Twelve years ago in Perry county, Pa., the President of our State 

 Horticultural Association bought an abandoned farm of 100 acres 

 for $875. This fall from four acres of 11 year old Baldwin trees 

 he sold |620 worth of apples. Note that one acre, costing |8.75, 

 12 years ago, brings $155 this year, a return of seventeen-fold on 

 its cost, and he still has the acre. Ttie farm is paying strong inter- 

 est to-day on |10,000. and its producing power is only beginning. 



Eight years ago in Franklin county, on the east side of the Cum- 

 berland Valley, a grower bought a farm for $50 per acre. He planted 

 it in apples with peaches as a filler. In the last four years, from 

 about 100 acres of bearing trees, he has sold |98,478 worth of peaches 

 — a return of nearly $1,000 per aci-e in seven years from planting, 

 with an apple orchard coming on on the same ground. One block 

 of IG^ acres of Salway peaches in this orchard has returned $30,111 

 since planting in 1900. Yet land like this in the same neighbor- 

 hood, now in general farming, can be bought for $40 to $tiO per 

 acre. 



Nine years ago near Youngstown, N. Y., an unproductive 20- 

 acre orchard of Baldwin changed hands. Proper orchard manage- 

 ment was installed and the net returns from that orchard in the 

 nine years has been $27,002. This, in spite of the entrance of the 

 San Jos^ Scale with its additional requirement of power sprayers 

 and extra spraying. 



These instances are not accidents. They represent returns from 

 large acreage extending over a term of years, and are not the 

 chance returns of a few trees for a short period. They call atten- 

 tion to the business value of good frujt growing. They aho^ th^t 



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