May 12, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



1521 



A BEDDING PLANT EMPORIUM. 

 Establishment of Ludvig Mosbaek 



age. In 1S86 this gentleman in ques- 

 tion was in debt $1500. In twenty 

 years he had raised a sturdy family, 

 paid every debt and about $1000 in 

 doctor's bills, built a stable, a storage 

 house and repaired other buildings, 

 and has a snug bank account, sub- 

 stantially increased by the past year's 

 returns. Best of all his boy is an en- 

 thusiastic helper and will follow in 

 his father's footsteps. 



The case cited is not an isolated 

 one. There are hundreds of farms in 

 Maine, and no doubt in other sections 

 of New England as well, that would 

 give even better returns on a similar 

 investment. Last year a farm of fifty- 

 seven acres, on which is a thrifty 

 Baldwin orchard of 150 trees, was 

 placed upon the market at $1000. Thi3 

 same farm has repeatedly returned 

 $500 from, the trees alone. The rest 

 of the farm has been in hay until it 

 is one of the "worn out" farms, but 

 the buyer of such property is sure of 

 liberal interest. 



I have not referred to the brilliant 

 successes of Terrill and Kinney of 

 Vermont, Ricker of Maine, Solon 

 Chase, whose record with "them 

 •steers" is familiar "to many; nor to 

 any larger operators like Hale of 

 Connecticut, and others of Massachu- 

 setts, who have shown the possibili- 

 ties of fruit growing. Suffice it to say 

 there are hundreds of small orchards 

 thoughout New England which dur- 

 ing the past ten years have averaged 

 their owner a net profit of 15 to 40 

 per cent, on the investment. 



In view of the recognized value of 

 the orchard crop it is indeed surpris- 

 ing that orchard land in close prox- 

 imity to railroad and steamboat points 

 should he held so low. ^It is more sur- 

 prising that there are not numerous 

 syndicates for the exploitat-ion of these 

 orchard lands. There is not the 

 • slightest doubt that with proper man- 

 agement the owner of apple orchards 

 ■ in New England is surer of a liberal 

 return on his investment than is the 

 owner of orange groves in Florida or 

 of silver mines in the West. 



Some of the best orchard lands in 

 Maine may be bought for from $5 to 

 $50 per acre; and I know of hundreds 

 of acres within one hundred miles of 

 Portland that might rival the great 

 orchards of the Ozarks. 



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The orchards already in bearing are 

 sold at surprisingly low figures. But 

 there is every indication that the tide 

 has turned and that the fruit interests 

 of the East are to receive a measure 

 of the attention which their impor- 

 tance demands. 



I would not minimize the difficulties 

 attending fruit growing. Mice and 

 countless hordes of insects and fungus 

 enemies demand that the fruit grower 

 be ever on the alert. But there is no 

 business occupation which will permit 

 a man to "sit and sing himself away 

 to everlasting bliss." The successful 

 orchardist must wage eternal warfare, 

 just as is the case with any other suc- 

 cessful business man. 



A few years' ago the secretary of the 

 Maine State Pomological Society out- 

 lined a scheme for forming a fruit 

 growers' stock company which, while 

 it seemed altogether feasible, has not, 

 so far as I am aware, been carried 

 out in New England; though similar 

 organizations are successful elsewhere. 

 In the West and South companies have 

 purchased land, planted trees on a 

 large scale, sold capital stock, and de- 

 clared satisfactory dividends. What 

 has been done there can be done in 

 New England. 



There are few, if any, absolutely 

 safe investments that will appreciate 

 in value as rapidly as a New England 

 orchard. Excellent fruit land may be 

 purchased almost anywhere in New 

 England for $10 to $50 an acre. If set 

 with desirable sorts of apples and 

 given intelligent treatment these same 

 lands will at the end of ten years be 

 worth at a low estimate $100 an acre; 

 while in fifteen years they will be 

 returning a handsome dividend on a 

 valuation of from $300 to $800 an acre. 



The increasing value of the orchard 

 from year to year, up to twenty-five 

 years of age, is an important factor 

 in the problem. To be sure the or- 

 chard must be cared for and protected 

 during the first ten years; but this is 

 not by any means a dead load to carry. 

 Many of the lands which may be in- 

 cluded in the tracts purchased already 

 contain profitable bearing orchards. 

 Small fruits or sweet corn, potatoes or 

 other hoed crops, may be grown in the 

 young orchard to meet the expense of 

 cultivation and fertilization. "Fillers" 

 of Wealthy or some other early ma- 

 turing sort, which will come into bear- 

 ing in five years, will pay the expense 

 of the orchard before the main trees 

 •reach their prime. 



An investment of this nature will 

 certainly stand investigation at the 

 hands of conservative capitalists. 

 ■While I firmly believe in the future 

 of New England as an apple producing 

 region, there are many other ways in 

 which the abandoned farms may be 

 utilized to advantage. The reclaiming 

 of "poverty flats," and similar un- 

 promising areas in other sections of 

 Massachusetts, has shown the capabili- 

 ties of some of the lands as market 

 gardens. 



The unqualified success which at- 

 tends the intelligent management of 

 dairy herds in all parts of New Eng- 

 land; the almost unlimited demands 

 for the superior sweet corn which Is 

 grown in Maine and elsewhere; the 

 success attending the extensive opera- 

 tion of Professor Sanborn of New 

 Hampshire, in the line of general 

 farming; the rapid advance in the pro- 

 duction of potatoes since the introduc- 

 tion of improved methods; all of these 

 and many more actual commercial op- 

 erations, go to show the possibilities 

 In the direction of a new agriculture 

 for New England. 



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