358 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and the barrel head being pressed down over this and fastened, the 

 fruit is held firmly by the pressure of these two elastic cushions^ 

 Finally holes are bored through the side and both heads, which will 

 admit air, and in this manner fruit is brought from the Alpine slope so 

 free from injury it will keep throughout the winier without being un- 

 packed or opened Exchange. 



COST OF DEVELOPING A PEACH ORCHARD. 

 ESTIMATE FROM CONNECTICUT. 



It is very difficult to make estimates that will cover the situation 

 extendedly, so much depending upon the character of the soil to be 

 worked and local prices of labor in the various sections of the country. 

 To plow and prepare an acre of land for peach-planiing costs all the 

 way from $5 to $25. The planting will cost from $4 to $10, and the 

 annual cultivation from $10 to $30 per acre. Then, of course, comes 

 the cost of trimming of trees, thinning of fruit and fighting of insect 

 and fungous pests, which will vary every year from $5 to $25 per acre, 

 according to conditions. Then marketing the fruit, careful picking, 

 proper grading, packing and selling, will cost from 20 to 35 cents per 

 half-bushel basket. If one were to take a share of the crop for market- 

 ing, one-third would probably be a fair average compensation. 



In some sections of the country I should want more than that, and 

 in other sections it could be done for less. I know figures are given 

 out by land agents and others, who are trying to develop the peach 

 business so as to sell lands, that are very much below these presented 

 herewith, but to build up and maintain a profitable peach orchard, the 

 amounts of money I have named wil) have to be expended. This esti- 

 mate is based on the experience of planting and establishing more than 

 1,500 acres on a great variety of soil. — J. H. Hale. 



MICHIGAN ESTIMATE. 



There are so many conditions that would modify the cost, such as; 

 character of soil, price of labor and frequency of a crop, that only an 

 approximate estimate can be given. The cost of plowing, harrowing, 

 marking, planting and pruning the trees would vary from $6 to $12 per 

 acre, with $10 as a safe average, where a large area is to be planted. 

 Cultivating, hoeing and pruning to form the head would cost $4 or $5, 

 One dollar could be spent in the fall for seed and sowing of some 

 cover crop. The next year the pruning will cost perhaps 50 cents per 



