EEPORTS OF LOCAL SOCIETIES. 349 



fiiilures in the mercantile business indicate the unsatisfactory results of trade ; 

 the eagerness with which many ]ico})lc followed 11, (}.'s advice to "(Jo West" 

 has received a severe check by the army of grasshopi)ers wliicli visited so manv 

 of those favored localities and threaten starvation to the inhabitants. 



I mention these things which may not seem pertinent to the question, as I 

 think a little thought and comi)arison of this kind will be of value to us — 

 especially as I lind (piite a number of these who claim, in a very wise way, that 

 this fruit raising is a humbug, all well enough to talk and write about, but 

 poor to practice. 



To the casual observer there may bo some occasion for all this, but the more 

 thoughtful and ex])crienced certainly cannot T3ome to any such conclusion. 



It is a general rule that any permanent and successful business is of slow 

 growth; this is equally true of the country. It is a common remark, backed 

 by history and experience, to take the forest, clear it away and make homes, 

 with all the accompaniments of roads, bridges, school-houses, churches, etc. ; 

 and get so that a majority are out of debt and live at home, as the saying has 

 it, requires a full generation of thirty-three years. According to this we have 

 considerable time in which to develop, for we are hardly more than in our teens, 

 and this is a business where we do not sow in the spring and reaj) in the sum- 

 mer and fall, but plant this year and wait from two to six years for the " fruits ' ' 

 of our labor, during which period it is outgo of time and money. 



When I think of the comparatively few acres cleared in this vicinity, and the 

 fewer bearing crops of produce or fruit, as they should and may with better 

 cultivation, I am surprised at the wonders — yes, I may safely say v:ondcrs — our 

 people have accomplished, in the paying for land, clearing it for crops, setting 

 of orchards and caring for them, building houses and barns, with all the public 

 improvements of roads, bridges, school-houses, churches, harbor improvements 

 and railroad building, with our full share of other difficulties incident to a new 

 country. 



But more to the subject, as to the relative profits of pomology and farming. 

 I have examined the average yield of the State for most of the years from 1865 

 to 1875. I have selected those of the year 1871, as I think them the most 

 likely to be about right, as they had the advantage of the U. S. census of 1870. 



I have also taken those of our own State as I find them about medium (com- 

 jjared with other States), as to the cash value per acre of the following staple 

 farm products, viz. : 



Corn... ^19 11 



Wheat-. 18 48 



Eye 10 94 



Oats 14 02 



Barley $21 57 



Buckwheat 11 85 



Potatoes. 56 44 



Hay .- 14 90 



Average $!l9.47 



I find the average of these same crops for the year 1875 to be §17.53. 



Thus $20 gross cash value per acre would bo the outside figures for these 

 crops, and a liberal average for all the States. 



In the matter of fruit statistics I do not find them so accessible or reliable. 

 General fruit growing has been more confined to favorable climatic localities, 

 and care has not been taken in gathering regular statistics, or, at least, in pre- 

 serving them ; hence we have to rely on reports of individuals and societies in 

 these fruit-growing sections, which have the misfortune of being made by inter- 

 ested parties, however correct they may be. 



