24 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



their location. The matter of location is for them a settled question. 

 If they are to engage in fruit growing at all, it must be in their pres- 

 ent location and surroundings. To them it is a question of crop 

 selection, crop location, and methods of management best suited to 

 their conditions. If, as they are situated, fruit growing can not be 

 made to pay, they had better devote their land to other purposes. 



On the other hand, there is a small class of people who wish to 

 grow fruit who are free to change their location. For such it is a 

 good plan to visit some successful fruit sections and thoroughly 

 study their conditions and probable future before locating perma- 

 nently. In making such a study it is well to take plenty of time 

 before finally concluding to locate, as there are many factors to be 

 considered. It is usually unwise for a grower to change from a line 

 of fruit with whose production he is thoroughly acquainted to one 

 that is unfamiliar. Occasionally it may be desirable or even neces- 

 sary to make such a change, but in any case it should be made with 

 the greatest caution. The successful apple grower of Missouri may 

 become a successful orange grower in California after he has had 

 experience, but he will have much to team before he can do so. The 

 man who is starting anew in the growing of fruit of any kind should 

 start in a small way and not risk too much on a single venture. 

 (U. S. E. S. B. 178.) 



OPPORTUNITIES IN INTENSIVE FRUIT GROWING. 



The subject of intensive fruit growing and the splendid opportu- 

 nities on the Pacific Coast in California, Washington, and Oregon 

 come to one's mind. The possibilities of success have been so great, 

 however, that many of the best locations have already been utilized 

 and the business is highly developed. Unfortunately, the great dis- 

 tance from market furnishes an obstacle to profitable orcharding 

 which at least partly offsets the natural advantages. In Colorado, 

 on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, as well as in adjacent 

 parts of Utah and New Mexico, fine opportunities await the energetic 

 and skillful orchardist. Young orchards are being planted out at a 

 rapid rate, and the product is, as a rule, of the highest commercial 

 quality. The wax-like apples produced in this region, neatly packed 

 in bushel boxes, attract buyers from nearly all the Eastern States, 

 who paid last season prices ranging from 50 cents to over $1 a bushel 

 for this fruit delivered at the railway stations. The future develop- 

 ment of the apple industry in this region seems almost unlimited. 

 Peach growing in the western Rocky Mountains is especially success- 

 ful, and the output is increasing rapidly. Some of the very best sec- 

 tions are just now being extensively opened, and a good deal of fruit 

 land just being brought under irrigation can be purchased at mod- 

 erate prices. However, the success of this industry has caused the 

 value of the orchard lands in convenient locations to rise to a point 

 that astonishes the eastern visitor. Some of the finest apple orchards 

 are valued at over $1,000 per acre. 



Around most cities from the Mississippi Valley eastward there 

 are localities naturally fairly well adapted to the growth of tree fruits. 

 Every city of 5,000 inhabitants or more constitutes a fair market 



