10 FRUIT-GROWING 



There are some sections, of course, where ap- 

 ple land is held at a high figure. A friend of 

 mine paid nineteen hundred and fifty dollars 

 an acre for a tract of ten acres planted to young 

 trees. He paid too much. I have bought good 

 apple land for as little as seven dollars per 

 acre and can buy more even now for less than 

 twenty-five dollars per acre. These prices rep- 

 resent the two extremes of course, but on an 

 average one ought to obtain land suitable for 

 apples at a price of not to exceed one hundred 

 dollars per acre. (Then one wants to have an 

 amount equal to about two hundred dollars per 

 acre up his sleeve to pay for planting the place 

 and bringing it into bearing.) 



It is now time for you to ask, "Just what is 

 good apple land and how will I know it if I 

 see it?" 



That's a tough one, but I will do the best I 

 can to give you some ideas, or ideals, by which 

 to judge any orchard land you may think of 

 buying. 



Just what it is in the soil that makes a bit of 

 land suitable for apples, no one knows. We do 

 know that fruit will grow and thrive on a 

 great variety of different soils. I have seen 

 wonderful apples produced on the almost pure 

 sand soils of certain sections of Michigan and 

 I have seen others just as good grown on heavy 

 clay. I think we may say that nearly all sandy 



