574 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



ticular fruit: apples, cherries, p;rnpes, peaches, primes, pliiras, ber- 

 ries, etc. Tlie first condition lor juofilable I'luit larniiug is location, 

 and this is determined by climate. Soil is a less important factor than 

 climate. Given the right climate, for grapes, cherries, peaches, etc., 

 soil can, practically, be made. Soil ccmsists of plant environment, 

 which means available food, moisture, heat, humus. Chemical pro- 

 cesses in the soil contributory to plant life depend upon climate, that' 

 is, temperature, moisture, disturbance of the soil (cultivation) and 

 the actual presence of the plant root. The process of plant life is the 

 fundamental problems in horticulture. Hence the incalculable im- 

 portance and practical value of our Agricultural Colleges, Kxijeri- 

 ment Stations, Depaitments of Agriculture, the results of whose at- 

 tempts to solve the great food problem are in part made available by 

 institutions, from time to time in various fruit localities. The time 

 has passed for horticulture by "rule of thumb." 



The location of the fruit farm within the climatic belt adapted 

 to the particular fruit under consideration is determined, as an in- 

 vestment, by practical tests. As a rule that fruit farm is best worth 

 having w'-hich is salable at a good price at any time. It is well to 

 own laud which any body interested in profitable horticulture would 

 like to own. This rule includes both new and old farms. New lands 

 are ever "coming into the nmrket" and an investor must be guided 

 by the market value. The tests here are obvious: location as to mar- 

 ket; as to ordinary accessibility by good roads; as to local conveni- 

 ences, school, church, post-oilfice, shops, stores, physicians, etc., in 

 considering which matters, telephone equipment is a factor. A farm 

 near town, village or city, freight station, freight-siding, a farm cm 

 a good road, or roads, over which produce may be hauled at mini- 

 mum cost is always salable. It is the farm, not the farm buildings 

 which gives value. The old saying, "he that has two roofs has one 

 that leaks" hints at economy in building. A farm sells as pro- 

 ductive land, not as an aggregate of buildings. A stock farm in the 

 fruit belt is changed to a fruit farm, but the barns, sheds, etc., es- 

 sential to stock-raising are quite useless on a fruit farm. So Cato, 

 in his classic treatise on farming advises building in middle life, 

 meaning that by this time the farmer knows best what he needs. 



Market location is not a local question in a narrow sense. ''Much 

 fruit, many buyers" is the ruling principle. The Lake Erie and 

 Chautauqua fruit belt is thronged by buyers through the season. 

 In the city business of a kind by business necessity (laws of profit 

 and loss) locates in a section and there prospers best. So the banks, 

 and wholesale houses, the insurance offices, the commission houses 

 are in little settlements and there remain, the aggregate settlement 

 perhaps moving at long intervals as the city grows. An isolated 

 fruit farm is not easily made profitable unless its size is sufficient to 

 dominate the market. Indeed the usual aggregate of fruit farms 

 is practically, as a world-market, one vast fruit farm. In selecting 

 a fruit farm the investor must like other investors seek to do busi- 

 ness where business is done. And now arises the problem of at- 

 tempting to raise fruit productively in new regions. Climate, soil 

 are highly favorable but the locality is isolated. This means that 

 one or two generations of farmers must wait for marked facilities. 

 It is a question whether a man cares to be either of these waiting 

 generations. That he must decide. 



