EfGHTEEXTH AXXUAL MEETING. 



31 



certain farm nearby was worth, and his reply was. between 

 $5,000 and $6,000.. \\"e inquired about one or two other 

 farms and received the same reply. Then he said. "You know 

 xvc can grow apples on this land, and where you can grow 

 apples the farms are uK^re valuable." That has certainly been 

 my observation ! Where people go into fruit and apple grow- 

 ing, the farms arc more valuable and the people live better. 



Just one more instance to show the profits from fruit 

 growing". Several years ago the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' 

 Association wished to get some definite facts about the mat- 

 ter, so thev made out some blanks and sent them to the difl:'er- 

 ent growers, asking them to fill in their returns for the last 

 five years, giving amount of fruit produced and the price at 

 which it was sold. etc. The returns from ten of their best 

 growlers showed net profits amounting to from 11.7% to 

 24.5% on a valuation of $1,000 per acre. And mind you this, 

 as I said, was the average for five years and not some one- 

 year's big profit. 



We often hear the question discussed as to what is the 

 value of a bearing orchard per acre, but I think you will agree 

 that if we put it at $1,000 we are putting it high enough. They 

 have not many advantages, if any, over us here, but they do 

 have many disadvantages. So if they can make their big 

 profits we ought at least to do as well. 



I come now to the real subject for discussion — "The .Ad- 

 vantages and Disadvantages of New England for Fruit Grow- 

 ing." 



Alay I give you two points which I should consider dis- 

 advantages under which we labor? The first, and the most 

 important, and one which I should like to see overcome at 

 once, is so comparatively few people engaged in the work. 



Wherever you find any line of business engaged in ex- 

 tensively by a large number of men. you find that industry 

 pushed to the front. That is one of our great difficulties 

 throughout Massachusetts. While occasionally you find a 

 man in the business, making money out of it, the general run 

 of people are in general farming or dairying and do not pay 

 any particular attention to fruit. 



