66 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



COMMERCIAL APPLE GROWING IN VERMONT. 



By T. L. Kinney and F. A. Waugh. 



Most persons in Vermont look upon apple growing- as one 

 of the smallest incidents of farming-. They think it is all 

 very well to have some apples for the family to eat, providing 

 it does not require too much work to grow the fruit. But as 

 for planting an orchard and attending to it as to any other 

 business, with a view to making a profit from it, they know 

 nothing about it. 



Nevertheless commercial apple culture in this state is not 

 an idle dream. It is a practical fact. There are a number of 

 bearing orchards, ranging in size from five to twenty acres or 

 more, which yield their owners a handsome profit. Merely 

 as one example we may mention the orchard of the late H. D. 

 Allen at South Hero. In 1899 this orchard, of about 14 acres, 

 produced a fair crop of apples, due to good culture, and in 

 spite of the "off year." Mrs. Allen sold the seconds and 

 some* of the other apples at the house, to the amount of about 

 S700. She then shipped the best apples to New York in 

 March, 1900, where they all sold at an average of S5.22 a bar- 

 rel. Some of the best — extra select Spies — brought $8, $9 

 and S10 a barrel. The entire carload sold for S848.25, which 

 after deducting freight, cartage and commission, left $713.40 

 net. Adding this to the $700 received for apples sold at home 

 and we have a net income of $1,400 in an off year for fourteen 

 acres of land! 



If there is any other line of farming in the state of Ver- 

 mont which pays equal profits, we have failed to hear of it. 



In 1896, the year of over-production, when the apple mar- 

 kets were glutted, this same orchard yielded a handsome 

 profit, though not then in full bearing. That year Mr. Allen 

 shipped 562 barrels to New York, which sold for $1,273.52, 

 bringing a net return of $971.45. We do not have a record of 

 the apples sold at home for that year, but there were certain- 

 ly enough to bring the net returns safely above the $1,000 

 mark. 



Knowing this orchard intimately as we do, and basing 

 our opinion on what it has already done, we think it a very 

 conservative estimate to say that it will, with proper care, 

 return an average net profit of over $50 an acre each year for 

 many years to come. 



Several other orchards in the state could show records al- 

 most equally good. 



