178 FRUIT RANCHING. 



years old, or, in other words, for orchards just be- 

 ginning to bear full crops. The average price foi 

 orchard land with trees of that age is not less than 

 $1,000 (£200) per acre, and runs up to double that 

 amount. 



British Columbia, to which I will now turn, is, 

 it must be remembered, as a fruit-growing region, 

 some eight years younger than the districts of Oregon 

 and Washington, from which I have quoted. In the 

 majority of the cases quoted for British Columbia 

 it will be necessary to add to the returns for apples 

 or pears or peaches the returns for a second crop, still 

 growing between the fruit trees. In other words, in 

 order to institute a proper comparison between 

 Oregon and Washington, on the one hand, and 

 British Columbia on the other, it is necessary to take 

 two crops for the latter, such as, for instance, apples 

 and strawberries, in so far as both crops are occupy- 

 ing the ground simultaneously while the apple trees 

 are small. 



First, I will quote a few returns in which apples 

 alone are grown, without any supplementary crop. 

 Mr. James Johnstone, of Nelson, states that he has 

 obtained an average net profit per acre of $500-$600 

 (£100-£120) from his apple trees, virtually seven 

 years old. Mr. John IIvslop, also of Nelson, ob- 

 tained an average of $900 (£180) per acre from twelve- 

 year-old trees. Mr. J. D. Ilonsberger, of Grand 

 Forks, one of the successful exhibitors against the 

 Hood River Valley at New Westminster in 

 December, 1906, records a yield for apples averaging 

 $300 (£60) net per acre. 



Messrs. Mawdsley and Eskrigge, who have an 



