CHAPTER XXXIV 

 ORCHARD LOCATIONS AND SITES 



The production of fruit on a scale sufficient to meet the needs of the 

 home at least partly has a general appeal. Indeed it is exceptional to find 

 the farm or even the suburban lot that is without trace of fruit tree, 

 shrub or vine. Such planting of a few fruit-producing plants is often done 

 as much for the pleasure derived from their culture as for the monetary 

 returns. On the other hand, commercial fruit production is a business 

 and appeals to only a comparatively small percentage of the popula- 

 tion — even of the farming population. Perhaps this is because it is 

 generally considered an exacting business, requiring special training or 

 special aptitude, or perhaps it is due to other reasons. Whatever the 

 reason, the commercial fruit growers are few in comparison with other 

 classes of farmers. Nevertheless there are frequent recurring waves of 

 interest in commercial fruit production, bringing to those already engaged 

 in some line of farming the question whether or not it would be desirable 

 for them to set a part of their acreage to fruit, or raising in the minds 

 of those who are not engaged in agriculture the question whether they 

 might not raise fruit with profit. In either case a number of matters 

 concerning the establishment of an orchard should be considered before 

 any definite decision is made. These questions are much the same 

 fundamentally for the one group of prospective growers as for the other, 

 though the points of view may be somewhat different. In the one case 

 the problem is to determine what fruits can be grown to best advantage 

 in some particular field, farm or locality; in the other it may take the 

 form of first deciding on what kinds to grow and then in finding the proper 

 place to grow them. 



Orcharding In or Outside of an Established Fruit Growing Section. — 

 Incidental to the discussion of the geography of fruit growing some of the 

 factors influencing the choice of a location for certain fruits or of fruits 

 for certain locations are mentioned. An intelligent selection in either 

 case depends on a detailed knowledge of the geographic distribution of the 

 industries concerned. Obviously there would be considerable risk in the 

 commercial culture of some fruit in a section where it is not being grown — 

 where it has never been tried or where its cultivation has been discon- 

 tinued. Thus it would not seem wise to attempt commercial filbert 

 culture in New York or Pennsylvania, or to make other than experimental 

 plantings of the jaboticaba in southern Florida. It would be safer 



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