217 FRUIT 



GROWING 



his having a thirty acre orchard realized a few 

 years ago $18,000 for the crop, $600 an acre. 

 These, however, are possible, rather than prob- 

 able results. Half these figures would still be 

 considered high, and $250 or $300 per acre would 

 generally be above rather than below the average. 

 There has been a great increase in peach raising 

 during recent years, and the fruit is now pro- 

 duced in large quantities where it was formerly 

 thought impossible. During the past decade the 

 number of bearing trees in the United States in- 

 creased from 53,000,000 to more than 99,000,000, 

 and the increase continues. The result is that our 

 markets are often congested, and it is difficult to 

 get satisfactory prices. Still, if the fruit raised 

 is all choice, it will prove a very profitable end of 

 the business. Land suitable for peach growing 

 can be bought for $75 to $100 per acre in New 

 York, and $25 more should procure the trees and 

 plant them, thus making the initial cost $100 to 

 $125 an acre. Five years of care, two or three of 

 which should be self-supporting by the produc- 

 tion of other crops on the land, would bring the 

 orchard into bearing condition, and two or three 



