ORCHARD LOCATIONS AND SITES 639 



cents per bushel. Of course, if a bumper crop were harvested in the 

 latter case — a crop say of 600 bushels per acre — the interest charge per 

 bushel would be only 10 cents; but on the other hand if a light crop, say 

 100 bushels, is harvested, the interest charge per bushel would be 60 

 cents. It is not the intent here to recommend cheap land for growing 

 fruit; such land may prove the most expensive in the end. On the other 

 hand the purchaser or owner of high priced land should figure out before 

 planting the probable charges per bushel, pound, barrel or other unit of 

 fruit produced, that the cost of land contributes toward cost of 

 production. 



Transportation Facilities. — The importance of the distance between 

 the orchard and the shipping point or the market depends on the character 

 of the roads and the value and nature of the crop. Of course the ideal 

 location is adjacent to a railroad or other transportation system so that 

 there may be facilities for loading at the orchard. Since this is seldom 

 possible, access to a loading point must be considered. Six or eight 

 miles of ordinary country road has been considered about the longest 

 haul practicable with most fruits. If the distance to the shipping point 

 is much greater, the item of hauling becomes too large a part of the total 

 cost of production and unduly reduces the margin of profit, or possibly 

 turns profit into loss. The cost per mile of hauling barreled apples over 

 average country roads should not exceed 2 to 3 per cent of the average 

 price received for them. Let the distance be such that 10 to 15 per cent 

 of the selling price is required to cover this item and it becomes very 

 important. The character of the fruit also must be considered. Obvi- 

 ously it is impracticable to haul strawberries or other soft fruits as far 

 or over as difficult roads as winter apples may be. The better the 

 road, however, the greater the distance the crop may be hauled with- 

 out injury. A trip of 12 to 15 miles over well graded and smooth sur- 

 faced roads may cause much less injury than one or two miles over 

 a poor country road. Finally the value of the crop per load is important. 

 Thus it may be entirelj^ practicable to plant an English walnut, prune 

 or chestnut orchard 10 to 15 miles from a shipping point, for one load 

 would carry the crop from 2 acres, while a corresponding area of apple 

 orchard would require 10 to 20 two-horse load trips. Furthermore a 

 nut crop is not subject to the mechanical injury which would result 

 from hauling apples long distances. 



SLOPE OR ASPECT 



Many advantages have been claimed for certain slopes — advantages 

 so great that prospective fruit growers are sometimes led to believe that 

 success is practically guaranteed if the land but slopes in a certain direc- 

 tion and that failure is almost equally certain if it slopes the opposite 



