No. 4. 



FRUIT GROWING. 



221 



fruit-growing section has proved interesting and convincing, as 

 we surely hope it has, it may be worth while to spend a mo- 

 ment in considering some figures as to what has actually been 

 done in the way of returns from orchards and in the costs of 

 setting out and maintaining young orchards. 



One of the best opportunities for quick returns in the orchard 

 business to-day in New England is in the renovation of old 

 orchards, which, through neglect, have been allowed to become 

 unfruitful and unprofitable. There are, at the present time, 

 thousands of such old trees scattered throughout the New 

 England States, but they are every year becoming less and less, 

 as men realize their possibilities and bring them back into new 

 life. It is possible to change such old trees, in the course of 

 three or four years, from poor, barren, disease-infested orchards 

 into vigorous and profitable ones. Numbers of examples 

 might be cited where this has actually been done, but the fol- 

 lowing case may be taken as typical. A farm on which was an 

 old Baldwin orchard of 43 trees, located on about an acre of 

 land, was bought a few years ago at $30 per acre. The trees 

 were so badly infested with San Jose scale and other pests that 

 it was seriously considered whether it would not be best to cut 

 them down and plant out a new orchard. It was finally de- 

 cided, however, to clean up the orchard and see what could be 

 made of it. Accordingly, it was pruned and sprayed and 

 cultivated and fertilized, with the results shown in the follow- 

 ing statement: — 



Expense, 1910. 



Cultivation, cover crop, etc., $15 00 



Pruning, 



Fertilizers, 



Barrels, 200, at 33 cents, 



Picking and packing, . 



Spraying, 



Total, $178 50 



Income. 



150 barrels at 

 50 barrels at 



$450 00 

 100 00 



550 00 



Profit, 



$371 50 



