June, 1940] Budget Analysis of Orchards 7 



individual who contemplates setting an orchard, what is the annual land 

 cost to him? Ignoring what he may have paid for the land, if it is on 

 the verge of diversion to forest, its values can be estimated on the basis 

 of its worth as forest land, which would be small. That is, starting with 

 a cleared field, returns from forest uses may be 100 years away and 

 possible income discounted backward 100 years means a very small value 

 now. 



From this angle individuals who contemplate developing orchards on 

 such land can associate only a small investment with it. Marginal land 

 reverting to forest uses is probably worth not over $2 to $5 per acre. 



On the other hand, in New Hampshire the area of land on a farm is a 

 mixed pattern of tillage land, pasture land and woodland with a farm- 

 stead associated with the general pattern. In the case of a farm with 40 

 acres of tillage land, 50 acres of rough pasture land, and 100 acres of 

 forest land, an orchardist would usually have to purchase the entire farm. 

 The 40 acres of tillage land might have only 20 acres of good apple land. 

 Thus, if the orchardist is interested in nothing but orchards and ignores 

 the other resources associated with the farm, the investment per acre of 

 orchard land may be $200 an acre or more. 



The best approach in management is to use all the resources of the 

 farm to secure the maximum returns from resources and labor. If the 

 farmer has an established dairy organization and is considering setting 

 fruit, he should consider the effect of diverting certain fields to orchard. 

 A careful estimate of the loss of income from less dairying and the pos- 

 sible net gain from fruit production would form a basis on which to de- 

 termine the advisability of making the change. In many instances the 

 loss of tillage fields for roughage production would so disrupt the dairy 

 organization as to make the use of the land for orchard purposes very 

 expensive. Yet on some dairy farms, fields could be spared for fruit 

 growing without appreciable loss. 



Since fruit growing is highly competitive from an inter-regional point 

 of view, it seems wise to consider fruit growing largely on the basis of 

 low value land. Many fields exist which represent potential apple 

 sites and which based on present use and present returns have little 

 value. Wherever the fields have high value for other purposes, one may 

 question their use for orchards. 



In confining tree fruits to low value land, one must have in mind the 

 use of the best sites only. It is a great mistake to set out trees on any 

 land not having the characteristics of a good orchard site. But it so 

 happens that good apple sites are associated with farms or fields that 

 are in process of abandonment. One instance is known where general 

 farms were purchased and small acreages including the farmsteads were 

 resold to summer people, leaving tracts of orchard land secured at a very 

 small investment. 



While the discussion in this bulletin will be restricted to the orchard 

 enterprise, it is fully recognized that usually it is desirable to operate 

 the orchard in association with other enterprises. The resources of land, 

 equipment and labor can be better utilized in a well balanced farm or- 

 ganization. But for purposes of exploration the orchard will be studied 



