CHAPTER XII 



THE COST OF GROWING APPLES 



THE factors have always operated to de- 

 ter many persons from taking up fruit 

 growing as a business or even as a 

 side issue on the farm, and they will probably 

 continue to be an obstacle for more time to 

 come. These are the comparatively large in- 

 vestment required and the necessarily long 

 period of waiting before paying returns can 

 be obtained. Farmers who have not gone into 

 the business of fruit growing because they 

 could not afford this heavy investment or to 

 wait so long for returns have been wise. 

 Others who, though lacking the necessary cap- 

 ital, still have planted heavily have learned to 

 their sorrow the importance of capital in the 

 business both for the original investment and 

 to carry the enterprise. And yet with sufficient 

 capital and the proper conditions there Is no 

 more attractive or profitable line of agricul- 

 ture than fruit growing. 



Who knows what it costs to grow an orchard 

 to bearing age? Or what it costs to produce a 

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