THE FINANCIAL HISTOKY OF A 12-YEAK OLD TEACH ORCHAKD 



Special Bulletin No. 94 



HY II. J. EUSTACE AND F. M. HARDEN. 



INTKODUCTION. 



The peach has always been an important coniiueicial hoiticuliuial crop 

 in Mielii^an. The earliest ventures in extensive fruit growing were with 

 peach orchards in Western Michigan. No other fruit crop has a history 

 of so many or so great financial successes or failures, and largely for th(^se 

 reasons fruit growers are always es])ecially interested in the crop and 

 everything pcMtainiug lo it. Tlie (inancial record of twelve years of this 

 15-acre oi-chard will be of value and interest. 



The financial account of any orchard enteri)rise is interesting to every 

 owner of a similar property as it gives a basis of com])aring llieir own 

 costs and returns witli others and may slied some light on orchard values, 

 and the i)rospective fruit grower is always anxious to know the probable 

 costs and returns. 



PEACH PRODUCTION ON MICHIGAN FRUIT FARMS 



Peaches are nearly always growni on Michigan fruit farms along with 

 other fruit crops. With the production of several other crops a system of 

 farm management can be better and more economically managed. 



Also, the income from the farm is more likely to be uniform if more than 

 one crop is depended upon. The peach is well-known to be a ''fickle crop," 

 and there are very few regions or orchard sites that can be depended U])on 

 to bring foith a regular crop. 



DATA FOR SERIES OF YEARS DESIRABLE 



The financial statement of one or a few years of an orchard property is 

 not of much value and it may be used in a misleading way. The only fair 

 way to judge of returns from an orchard, especially a ])each orchard, is by 

 averages of a reasonable number of years. The costs should be considered 

 in the same way. The peach is the shortest lived orchard tree, it begins 

 to bear at an early age and reaches its time of unprofitableness sooner 

 than any other. For this reason the expenses of starting and develop- 

 ment during the first years when crops are not produced should be charged 

 against the later years of crop production. 



