350 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The fact that these reports generally give the locality and names of parties, 

 thus enabling any ^\-ho may ■wish, to obtain statements from first hands, should 

 entitle them to credit. 



In the fall of IST-i Secretary Bidwell addressed the following questions to 100 

 of the largest fruit-growers of this county, to wit : 



Value of your orchard per acre? 



Value of adjoining land? 



Comparative yield and extent of your orchard in 187-i compared with 18T2-3? 



Price realized for fruit? 



The parties very generally answered, and from these answers and other sta- 

 tistics the Secretary felt warranted in the following statement of net values per 

 acre for the average yield of lS'^;2-3— ;!:, viz. : 



Apples - i>GO 73 



Peaches 3.13 99 



Pears 44G 00 



Plums 347 00 



f, 



Cherries $419 G7 



Grapes 386 83 



Strawberries 265 30 



Currants 470 60 



Average per acre for all fruits $342.52 



The Fruit Growers' Society of Western New York in 1855 sent out a circu- 

 lar with similar questions to the above, to committees in twenty-three counties ; 

 also similar questions were sent out by tlie leading Pomological Societies of 

 Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, California, and probably most 

 of the other States — although I have not seen them — to different parts of their 

 respective States. 



It will also be remembered that St. Joseph has sent out a number of statisti- 

 cal reports ; also our neighbors at Saugatuck. Grand Haven made a very full 

 aud complete report of its orchards and vineyards in 1871, giving names of 

 growers, number and kind of trees, number of vines, baskets of peaches, 

 pounds of grapes, busiiels of apples, quarts of berries, and net proceeds. 



While iu the main these statistics are estimated, yet, Judging from the care 

 shown in gathering them, it seems to me they can be accepted as substantially 

 correct. Although my limited time has not permitted me to follow out the 

 comparisons as fully as I would like, yet I feel safe in drawing the conclusion 

 that the reports of the different States and localities mentioned above do not 

 differ in general averages one with another more than the statistics of the farm 

 crops of the several States. 



It may be suggested that these fruit statistics are limited to favored locali- 

 ties. In answer to this I would remark that general fruit growing is limited by 

 climatic and natural causes to certain places, and as our farm statistics were 

 taken from States wliich are recognized as favorable to those crops, so we must 

 seek localities prepared by nature for raising the staple fruits. 



After due allowance for the fact tliat it takes from two to six years before 

 we begin to realize from our investment, and a liberal deduction for other con- 

 tingencies, I should ])lace Pomology tJiree to Farming one, as to profits on an 

 equal expenditure of time and money for a period of twenty years. 



As to the relative certainty of these crops each year, I think only one failure 

 in twenty years, and that only of the peach, answers tliis (juestion quite satis- 

 factorily, — to us at least. Besides, experience has aljundantly proved tiiat the 

 certainty of a general fruit crop is as sure as that of the staple farm croj^s, 

 and that we take no more chances in the future, of the one than the other. 



As to prices, — especially in years of aljundance, — I am satisfied tiiat the 



