POSSIBILITIES OF WORN-OUT FARMS. 49 



are sold at surprisingly low figures. But there is every indication 

 that the tide has turned and that the fruit interests of the East are 

 to receive a measure of the attention which their importance de- 

 mands. 



I would not minimize the difficulties attending fruit growing. 

 Mice and countless hordes of insects and fungous enemies demand 

 that the fruit grower be ever on the alert. But there is no business 

 or occupation which will permit a man to "sit and sing himself 

 away to everlasting bliss." The successful orchardist must wage 

 an eternal warfare, just as is the case with any other successful 

 business man. 



An Investment Plan. 



A few years ago the secretary of the Maine State Pomological 

 Society outlined a scheme for forming a fruit growers stock com- 

 pany which, while it seemed altogether feasible, has not, so far as 

 I am aware, been carried out in New England, though similar 

 organizations are very successful elsewhere. In the West and the 

 South, companies have purchased land, planted trees on a large 

 scale, sold capital stock, and declared satisfactory dividends. 

 What has been done there can be done in, New England. 



There are few if any absolutely safe investments that will appre- 

 ciate in value as rapidly as a New England orchard. Excellent 

 fruit land may be purchased almost anywhere in New England 

 for $10 to $50 an acre. If set with desirable sorts of apples, and 

 given intelligent treatment, these same lands will at the end of ten 

 years be worth at a low estimate $100 an acre; while in fifteen 

 years they will be returning a handsome dividend on a valuation 

 of from $300 to $800 an acre. The increasing value of the orchard 

 from year to year, up to twenty-five years of age, is an important 

 factor in the problem. To be sure the orchard must be cared for 

 and protected during the first ten years; but this is not by any 

 means a dead load to carry. Many of the lands which may be 

 included in the tracts purchased, already contain profitable bearing 

 orchards. Small fruits or sweet corn, potatoes and other hoed 

 crops may be grown in the young orchard to meet the expense of 

 cultivation and fertilization. "Fillers" of Wealthy or some other 



