No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AaRICULTURE. 476 



than |900 per acre. Near North East 1^ acres of 12-year-old, so 

 called "York State'' prunes — probably a strain of the Italian or 

 Fellenberg, — the last two years produced the unusual sum of |1,688, 

 with almost e(iual returns reported from Bradshaw plums. In 

 Berks county during the same time, 5 acres of peaches produced 

 |1,100 per acre. These are only a few of the results that we have 

 gathered in a very general fruit-survey of the State. They indicate 

 the wide range of territory and varieties that are profitable here. 

 While we have no data to show just what the outlay was in produc- 

 ing them, yet they should effectually set at rest any fears as to the 

 size of "return per unit of labor." There is no question about it. 

 with the man and the other factors right, fruit-growing offers as 

 liberal returns, in proportion to labor and capital involved as any 

 occupation upon which we have seen figures. Just there is our 

 problem, to get the factors right and keep them right. 



The third question, as to the returns being slow, will be dis- 

 cussed later. We may say here, in passing, that this difficulty can 

 be much lightened by a proper system of intercropping and by the 

 use of fillers adapted to the section. This is a difficulty that must 

 be reckoned with, however, by men of small means, to avoid the 

 danger of over-reaching with the consequent danger of neglecting 

 or sacrificing his orchard. But it is clear that for such returns as 

 those recorded above it will pay to wait. 



Most of what has gone before is on the business phase of fruit- 

 growing. There are a few things more to be noted in this connec- 

 tion, before taking up the producing side. 



First, this State is just starting into commercial orcharding. 

 In the decade covered by the last census, Pennsylvania planted 

 2,676,000 trees as compared with 626,000 planted by New York. 

 This planting is still actively going on in certain parts of the State. 

 These orchards are coming into bearing, and there are many prob- 

 lems that the owners are facing. Chief among these, in connection 

 with the apple, is storage. Apples have two important advantages 

 over most other fruits. If the market is unfavorable at picking 

 time, they can be readily held until it improves. And the fruit has 

 so many uses, and can be shipped so widely, that the market seems 

 able to handle an almost unlimited supply during the entire year, 

 hence, prices are practically sure to rise during the storage season. 

 This is especially true in large crop years when prices are low at 

 picking time. We can illustrate this by the experience of two men 

 in southern Pennsylvania last year. One of them had 900 barrels 

 of Gano, which he admits were as fine looking as any apples he 

 ever saw. For these he obtained 90 cents per barrel in the orchard, 

 which was considered a good price at that time. Yet from April on. 

 those same apples were sold regularly on the Philadelphia market 

 for $4 to |6 per barrel. Another grower in Bedford county, with 

 the lamented Ben Davis stored his apples in a 300-dollar "cold-air" 

 storage house holding about 600 barrels, and in March sold them 

 for |2.25 per barrel for the fruit, for which he was ofifered only 

 50 cents in the fall. 



The fiji'st grower does not feel that he is against the storage 

 question yet, and we admit that he is not facing it by any means so 

 strongly as he will be in the near future. But he was against it 



