General Considerations. 5 



be equally profitable in both cases. The market is a less 

 definite and a less stable factor than the conditions of soil 

 and climate. A few principles, however, can be laid down. 



a. Transportation facilities. To avoid carriage by wagon 

 and transfer after shipment, fruits for the commercial 

 business are preferably grown near some through line of 

 transportation. Two such lines are preferable to one, as 

 competition will thus tend to lower shipping rates, and 

 there will then be greater security in case of strikes or other 

 temporary obstructions to commerce. As a rule, the larger 

 the number of transportation companies within reach of 

 the fruit plantation, the better. 



b. Shipping qnalitij. The more delicate and perishable 

 the fruit produced, the more important is it that it should 

 be grown near a large center of population. The straw- 

 berry cannot be shipped long distances and be delivered to 

 the consumer at its highest quality, though winter apples 

 may be shipped across the ocean without deterioration. 



Locations may sometimes be found where special fruits 

 may be grown outside of their normal climatic belt. Thus 

 peaches are produced considerably farther north on the 

 east side of Lake Michigan than is possible in the Eastern 

 States, and oranges may be grown in the thermal belts of 

 the Sierra Nevada mountains as far north as Philadelphia. 

 Fruits that can be well grown outside of their normal belt 

 are usually more profitable than those grown in it, because 

 local competition is thus restricted. 



A market may sometimes be developed where it does not 

 already exist. Since fruits do not usually rank among the 

 necessaries of life, their consumption depends largely upon 

 their cheapness and quality. In order to develop a market 

 for fruit we must supply the products of fine quality and in 



