(( 



n 



II 



THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 125 



Strmvberries: 



W. M. Pratt, Benton Harbor, Mich $1 .20 per bushel. 



L. A. Goodman, Kansas City, Mo 64c " 



T. C. Wilson, Hannibal, Mo 1-25 " 



N. G. Blalock, Walla Walla, Wash 1 .20 " 



C. B. Cook, Owosso, Mich 1 .75 " 



C. B. Welch, Douglas, Mich 1 26 " 



Black Rasv'jerries: 



W. M". Pratt, Benton Harbor, Mich $1 . 10 " 



PROFITS IN FRUIT GROWING. 



The profits in fruit growing depend upon the cost of production, the cost of marketing 

 and market conditions. There is more variation in the income from fruits than from 

 most other farm crops. The average mcome, however, is higher than the income from 

 other common lines a husbandry. The last census shows that the average incomes in 

 different lines of farming are: Fruit, $915; live stock, $787; dairy, $787; cotton, $430. 

 But the gross income means nothing, it is the per cent received on the capital invested 

 that counts. Census statistics show that the average fruit farm returns 9.6% interest 

 on the investment. Very much larger returns than this are common. On the whole, 

 the returns in fruit growing are apt to be larger than the returns in general fanning, pro- 

 vided the same degree of intelligence, energy and capital is invested in each case. The 

 fact that 83% of the fruit farms of the country are owned by the men who own them, 

 as compared with 48% of hay and grain farms, and 68% of dairy farms, is further evi- 

 dence that the fruit growers of the country are making their business pay. The census 

 says: "Fruit farms have a value above the average, and a higher per cent of them are 

 owned than of farms of any other class." 



I have purposely left until the last the most important item in the cost of producing 

 fruit. This is the personality and skill of the man. This counts more than all else, for 

 the right sort of a man can over-ride obstacles, avoid mistakes and make fruit plants re- 

 spond where a less skillful or less energetic man would fail. The fruit grower Ls so closely 

 dependent upon physical conditions, which are unstable, and upon soil and market con- 

 ditions, which change from year to year, that it is not possible for him to do this work by 

 rules, or estimate his expenses with the mathematical exactness of the manufacturer or 

 merchant. It is constantly necessary for him to adjust himself to new commercial and 

 physical conditions. There is, of course, an element of chance in the business, but this 

 is very small as compared with the almost unfailing regularity with which success fol- 

 lows energy, skill and judgment. 



A VARIETY LIST FOR NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



(lEO M. GEISMAR, SUPT. upper PENINSULA EXPERIMENT STATION.) 



After eight years of experimental work wdth fruit, and a much greater number of years 

 of close observations in all other parts of the Upper Peninsula, I can give the following 

 lists as those of varieties which are safe to plant and sure to bear profitable crops under 

 ordinary conditions of care and cultivation and regardless of occasional "test winters.". 

 This applies to average conditions of soil and location, and not to such where the profitable 

 production of fruit is rendered impossible either temporarily or permanently owing to 

 present unfavorable conditions of surface or air drainage. There are many portions 

 where the average conditions, especially of location, are more favorable than they are here, 

 for the Upper Peninsula is a mighty big "village." There are none, however, where the 

 conditions represent more nearly than they do here the average as it obtains throughout 

 this vast region. I am safe to state that the apple and most of the small fruits will com- 

 prise exclusively the list of those which will become profitable when raised on a commercial 

 scale, and I am probably equally safe in stating that the cherry, at least the Morellos, 

 and the Blackberry will be added to this list whenever some of the lighter soils will be 

 taken up for horticultural development. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



To give a list of the varieties of strawberries which will succeed throughout this region 

 would be equal to giving a list of all the standard varieties which are grovm elsewhere. 

 The fact that they are grown successfully in every county, and that the early varieties 



