802 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY ix XEW YORK STATE 



orchard), or $53 an acre. From the fillers we obtain a profit 

 'which was a little less than $10 an acre the fourth year. 



In this orchard, instead of having an investment of $72.10 

 an acre at the end of four years, we have an investment of only 

 $9.47, due chiefly to the fact that we have grown crops between 

 the rows. I may say that in the last two years this orchard has 

 borne peaches enough to more than defray its entire cost. And 

 this peach orchard, seven years old at the present time, filled with 

 peaches still in their prime, has not only paid the entire cost of 

 growing all the trees, but has returned a profit of something like 

 $16 an acre in one year. 



Perhaps these two cases represent a variation that all of us will 

 find more or less. In one case we have an orchard that is still in 

 debt and in which we have not broken even at the end of twelve 

 years, whereas another orchard has made some profit at six years. 

 You will find all these variations. 



CONCLUSIONS 



If we are in this business for the profit there is in it and if we 

 do not care to make a heavy investment in the growing of young 

 orchards, and wait ten to fifteen years for returns from them, I am 

 fully convinced that intercropping and interfilling is a profitable 

 practice, from an economic point of view. 



