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yet so perfect was the packing and so careful had been the 

 previous handling of the apples that they arrived with prac- 

 tically every apple in perfect condition; and the apples in 

 the middle of the boxes and in the bottom were just as good 

 as those on the top. This is certainly the key to western 

 success in getting gilt-edged prices for their fruit. " A 

 dozen Oregon Spitzenbergs," or " a box of Colorado Wine- 

 saps," has a definite meaning, just as much so as " a dozen 

 California navel oranges," and customers are willing to pay 

 for this certainty of getting something which is good. 



The seventh and last factor in the success which I shall 

 mention - — though there are doubtless a few other minor ones 

 which might be included — is their climate. I believe that 

 the dry, sunny weather, which most of their famous apple 

 sections have, puts a color and a " finish " on their fruit 

 which it is difficult to get here in the east. Mind, I don't 

 say that it cant be done here, but certainly it isnt very often, 

 even in the few well-cared-for orchards of which we can boast. 

 That, it seems to me, is the only factor in the situation which 

 need disturb the man who wants to go into orcharding here 

 in 'New England ; and, as I shall try to show, this is more 

 than offset by advantages which we have. 



Let us turn now to the situation here in ISTew England, and 

 see what factors there may be to encourage the prospective 

 orchardist to select New England as his field of operations. 

 In the first place, land values are very much in favor of jSTew 

 England. Men have been " going west to grow up with the 

 country " for so long that prices for land in any of the good 

 fruit sections are abnormally high, while they are correspond- 

 ingly low here in the east. One hears constantly of the won- 

 derful prices which are paid out there for raw lands, or for 

 land just set to orchard, while $1,000, $2,000 and even 

 $5,000 per acre have been refused for bearing orchards. 

 Here in !N"ew England, on the contrary, splendid orchard 

 land can be bought for $5, $10, and up to $50 per acre. No 

 country in the world abounds more in ideal orchard sites than 

 New England. Eig. 2 is typical of hundreds of sections here, 

 where high, rolling lands, with splendid orchard soils, can 



