INTERCROPPING TIIK Y<>r\<; ()i;< HAKD 797 



Note the total cash cost here $7.10 011 wheat, $9.06 on beans, 

 $36 on apples; notice too that the fixed costs that we so many 

 times ignore are a very important part of it. I do not give my 

 figures to set up an average; these must be determined on every 

 farm. I have merely pointed out some of the costs that enter 

 into production. 



VALUE OF INTERCROPS 



A very important part of the business of growing an . orchard 

 of a bearing ago is getting the money to do it with. It is all very 

 well, if oiK 1 has an old orchard paying dividends, to put it in 



FIG. 212. BEANS IN THE YOUNG ORCHARD 



this young orchard- that is his privilege. But some of us can- 

 not do it; we have to pay our way as we go along. I look at 

 the intercrop this way: all the profits I can get out of the crop 

 between the trees are so much gain. I have that much less in- 

 vested in the orchard. If I have to spend ten dollars an acre per 

 year, and if I can get five dollars out of the crop, I am just so 

 much ahead. Certainly, it is an advantage to lessen the wait for 

 returns. Much is said about getting profits from orchards in five 

 or six years, but the average man does not do it. We are more apt 

 to set our standards by some individual who has been especially 

 successful. Somebody has an orchard that has made a big profit 

 at the end of five or six years. That is noted in a local paper, 

 which goes to the cities, and it is taken by the public as an aver- 

 age. It is misleading. On an average, an apple orchard does not 



