CHAPTER XL 



A COMPARISON OF RENTED ORCHARDS WITH THOSE MANAGED BY THE 



OWNER. 



Census of rented orchards. Between twenty and twenty-five per cent 

 of the area devoted to apples is rented. (See table 34.) The usual 

 method of renting" an orchard is the share system. The renter takes entire 

 charge of the orchard and delivers a certain share of the crop' usually 

 half to the owner. A cash rental is not uncommon, but is given in a 

 much smaller number of cases. Many of the renters do not remain on 

 one farm longer than one or two years. 



TABLE 34. 

 Area of rented orchards and of those not rented. Trees set before 1880. 



Effects of the rental system on the health of the orchard. The large 

 number of rented orchards gives rise to a serious problem in orchard 

 management. When a man rents land for the growth of field crops, there 

 is not only a definite basis for the rent but there is also an unwritten law 

 that has established quite definitely how he should raise these crops. 

 There are no such definite customs that determine the care which a rented 

 apple orchard should receive. 



The greatest obstacle in the way of good care is the fact that the returns 

 for good treatment do not come immediately. Good care of field-crops 

 gives an immediate effect; good care of an apple orchard may give less 

 returns the first year than it gives several years later. A renter does 

 not like to plow up a pasture that is of immediate value for the benefit 

 of a future apple-crop. If he mows the grass, he is not likely to leave it 

 for a mulch, unless it is not good for hay. The farm manure will bring 

 him quicker returns if used on the field-crops. The greatest return which 



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