CHAPTER XX. 



Cost of Planting an Orange Orchard in California 

 and Conducting it to a Paying Basis. 



Immigrants arriving in our country and desiring to invest in 

 lands for the purpose of orange growing, need reliable informa- 

 tion in regard to the probable cost of planting an orange or- 

 chard and conducting it to a self-sustaining condition, and the 

 capital that will be required. The following estimates are made 

 for their benefit, the price of land being the present ruling price 

 for the best quality of land in desirable localities. 



ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF A TEN-ACRE ORCHARD. 



Ten acres of land @ $50 $500 oo 



Ten hundred and eighty-nine budded trees (set twenty feet apart) 

 two or three years from the time of budding, on five-year-old 



roots, (&, 250 272 25 



Preparing and marking the ground for planting, and digging the 



holes 55 oo 



Planting the trees at 2C. each 21 78 



Irrigating four times during the season, cost of water included. . 40 oo 



Cultivating seven times during the season 70 oo 



Total cost of land, trees, planting, etc., cultivation and irrigation 



the first year $959 3 



Second year, cultivation and irrigation no oo 



Third year, i io oo 



Add for incidental expenses 70 97 



Grand total at the close of the third year $1,250 oo 



Which is one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. 



(The foregoing \yas written in the spring of 1880. The price 

 of trees was then very low. At the present time February, 

 1 88 1 there are few good trees of any kind in the market, and 

 no orange trees worth setting and of the ages herein mentioned 

 can be purchased for less than from fifty cents to one dollar 



