No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 573 



The best time to get a tree is straight from the nursery in the 

 spring, but the nurserymen cannot handle trees on this plan in very 

 large quantities. Fumigation has made a great difference in the way 

 trees are exposed. 



Some good growers think that fall is the best time to plant trees. 

 You only require to ridge them up a little and they will do better than 

 in spring, they think. 



Among other common mistakes is the failure to select a well- 

 drained, elevated site for the trees. Instead of increasing our acres 

 of fruit, we might better increase our attention to what we now have. 

 Quality pays better than quantity. 



Most of our growers seem to spend more time and strength in 

 settling the exact time to prune than they do in perfoiming the work, 

 with the result that trees get away from them and they end up in the 

 ^'forestry" business. 



In our spraying operations we lack knowledge of what we are 

 trying to do and so make most terrible mistakes. In fact, a little 

 more time spent in study and the dev^^lopment of our reasoning 

 powers will i>ay larger dividends than devoting all our time to man- 

 ual labor. 



Just now we are being told that the trouble with our marketing 

 methods of the apple crop is that we do not make use of the box in 

 place of the barrel. But will you tell me why the barrel is unpopular 

 and the box is sought for in our markets? Is it not because the con- 

 tents of the barrel is, as a rule, bum poor "crap," while the boxes 

 are honestly packed with cood dependable fruit? That is the situ- 

 ation and when we put good fruit in any package and the purchasing 

 public find it out, there will be more call for our products. 



The fruit grower who imagines that he can fool "all of the people 

 all of the time" is making the biggest mistake of all. Fair dealing 

 not only gives a clear conscience and establishes self-respect, but 

 it builds up the biggest bank account. 



THE FRUIT FARM AS AN INVESTMENT 



By FRANCIS N. THORPE, North East, Pa. 



An investment is valued by its returns. Large returns depend 

 upon favorable conditions — -large demand, limited supply, skilled 

 labor, economical adminstration, in brief, the relation of cost of pro- 

 duction to gross income. 



A fruit farm considered strictly as an investment musf be meas- 

 ured by the tests commonly applied to any legitimate investment 

 plus conditions essential to the particular business of horticnltrre. 

 It is largely the horticultural conditions which must be consi(' 'red 

 Limiting ourselves strictly to particular fruils, we mirst first consider 

 local situation, that is, we must select the locality adapted to the par- 



