246 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



parts of our State are well suited. Five hundred to one thousand 

 dollars per acre are not unusual gross returns, giving net figures of 

 more than fiftj' per cent, of these amounts. One eleven-year old Penn- 

 sylvania orchard, last year, returned over $250.00 per acre: this on 

 a 40-acre area. Another ochard tAvelve years old, gave nearly |400.00 

 per acre. We hear stories of the large profits from orchards on the 

 Pacific coast, where good orchard land is selling around $1,000.00 

 per acre. The figures given above were realized in our own State of 

 Pennsylvania, on land that a few years ago could have been bought 

 for $50.00 to $75.00 per acre. Not a particle better than thousands 

 of other acres in the State that may still be bought at these prices, or 

 less, 



I hear some persons saying that too many trees are being planted, 

 and that very soon there will be no market for the great quantity of 

 apples produced. There need be no immediate fear of over-production 

 so long as we devote ourselves to growing only good fruit. Someone 

 has said: ^'Apples will not be over-produced until every man, woman 

 and child in the land has all the apples he can use, and gets them at 

 a moderate price." I believe that condition to be very far remote. 



Handling the apple crop for home use probably need not be con- 

 sidered here, except that care against bruising, and protection from 

 evaporation Avill add much to apples intended for home consumption. 

 Apples wrapped in paper will keep much better than when not 

 wrapped. This is particularly true with high quality apples of the 

 Grimes Golden, Jonathan, Stayman Winesap type. 



We shall consider the matter then from a commercial point of view; 

 and for this ])urpose, the orchard interests in any place should be on 

 a fairly large scale to give most satisfactory returns. I mean by this, 

 than an acre of orchard here, and another there, remote from other 

 interests, will probably be disappointing, unless a strictly retail trade 

 is to be supplied. There should be enough trees in a place to produce 

 at least one carload : and from that point up, the selling conditions 

 will improve as the quantity increases. The reason for this is very 

 plain. ]\rauy of us prefer to sell our fruit and produce for cash at the 

 loading station. The largest and best cash buyers go only to neisrh- 

 borhoods where large quantities of fruit or produce can be bought, 

 for the reason that expense of looking after small lots is too great, 

 consequently competition is greater, and better prices almost invari- 

 ably are paid where fruit is plentiful. T therefore recommend that 

 fruit growing be conducted either on a large scale by individuals, or 

 bv a community of small growers. Handling the apple crop is clean, 

 pleasant work, which anyone may engage in honorably. Tt affords 

 opportunity for cnreful, painstaking effort, and plenty of employment 

 for the brains of the operator. 



Tn the first place, we shall assume that the fruit has been well- 

 ffrown ; thnt the trees have been pruned, so that each liuib and branch 

 has room to bear its load of fruit without crowding or seriously shad- 

 incr any other loaded branch, the centers open to admit sunlight, and 

 a free passage of air; that the trpe and fruit have been carefully and 

 thoroughly sprayed for scale, if that pest is present, for codling moth, 

 whinh is always present, and for the many funsrus troubles of fruit and 

 foliage; that the trees have been well fed with a ration balanced to 

 meet their needs — a matter which only experiment in your own or- 

 chard will decide; that the question of moisture has been carefully 



