No. 4.] FRUIT GROWING. 35 



sary to ship in refrigerator cars, and, moreover, many mar- 

 kets are within teaming distance, while the automobile truck 

 will soon be an important factor. 



This nearness to the best markets of the country, then, is 

 one of the greatest advantages New England has to offer the 

 fruit grower; but of almost equal importance is the average 

 price of fruit land. A few years ago we heard much about 

 the abandoned New England farms; to-day this is seldom 

 mentioned. Desirable land here is not cheap to-day by the 

 earlier standards, but compared with the market price of 

 fruit land in the west it would seem ridiculously low. There 

 orchard land without improvement sells as high as $1,000 

 per acre, while bearing orchards sell for several thousand 

 dollars an acre. 



Although our farm values have gone up considerably in 

 the last few years there is still much land in New England 

 which can be bought at reasonable prices, varying, of course, 

 as to accessibility, location and freedom from stumps or 

 boulders. I think that we will all admit that, other conditions 

 being favorable, good cleared land is worth from $75 to $100 

 an acre for fruit-growing purposes. A few years ago farms 

 could be bought for much less per acre than these figures, with 

 the buildings thrown in. 



Another great point in favor of New England is that many 

 of these farms contain old orchards which have managed to 

 exist in spite of neglect. Unless the tree trunks are in too 

 advanced a stage of decay these orchards may be reclaimed 

 and made to pay a revenue almost from the start. Try the 

 modern way of handling these orchards. Cut off the extreme 

 high tops, so that the tree can be more easily and cheaply 

 sprayed, the fruit more economically harvested and the dan- 

 ger from high winds greatly lessened. Clean out the scale, 

 preserve the trunks from decay, get new bearing wood, culti- 

 vate and spray thoroughly, and even on these old trees you 

 will get fruit that will surprise you. 



We will have to admit that the Pacific coast fruit which is 

 placed on our eastern markets has a wonderful finish which 

 we find hard to equal. The bright sunshine and cool nights 

 there seem to be particularly favorable toward developing 



