THE APPLE. 



Few persons have any idea of tlic value of the fruits grown in tliis 

 country but look upon IVuit tiees not as a source of income from the 

 farm but rather as a luxury, and are often considered a necessary e\il 

 of which the owners would gladly rid themselves, lillle thinking that 

 I'ruit growing can be made one of the most profitable branches of 

 fanning. 



Fruit trees must be taken care of as well as other crops if one 

 would realize anything from them. One would not expect a crop of 

 corn if he only planted the seed in the spring without giving it any 

 manure or after cultivation ; such an one would be called a shiftless 

 fanner. There are many who are called good farmers who are shift- 

 less fruit-growers, and the reason is this : they have been taught to 

 look upon fruit as an expense i-ather than as a source of income from 

 the farm. If one will only stop and figure he will find that there is 

 acta crop grown on the farm which pays as well compared with the 

 expense laid out on it as fruit. Take for example the a])ple, as that 

 is the standard fruit of this latitude, and the one most generally 

 grown. 



It is well to speak of this fi'uit in particular as the past season has 

 been one of sncdi productiveness that many are on the point of cut- 

 ting down their apple orchards to make room for some other crop, 

 saying that they had better raise corn than to grow apples at the pres- 

 ent prices. This is not so. A farmer can make more clear money 

 by growing apples at seventy-five cents a barnd than he can on any 

 other farm crop. To prove this let us see wlmt it will cost to take 

 care of an acre in orchard, and also one in corn. Admitting that 

 corn can be grown for thirty-five cents per bushel, and foity bushels 

 are raised on an acre, the cost of growing would be fourteen dollars ; 

 the price of corn we will take at sixty cents per bu.-hel, which will 

 amount to twenty-four dollars : this gives a profit of ten dollars from 

 one acre. Now let us see what one will get if he plants an apple or- 

 chai'd. We will reckon the trees when planted at twenty cents each. 



