126 BUSH-FRUITS 



what each considered an average yield per acre of 

 blackberries, fifty growers in different parts of the 

 country gave replies varying from 1,280 to 10,000 

 quarts, the average being 3,158 quarts, or over ninety- 

 eight bushels per acre. These figures, obtained as they 

 were from the practical growers themselves, who had no 

 incentive to misrepresent their estimates, are worthy of 

 credence. To be sure, some of the estimates are very 

 high, but others are extremely low, and the average is 

 considerably below the yield which many good growers 

 are securing. It is safe to say, therefore, that any 

 grower whose yields fall much below this average is not 

 living up to his possibilities, and unless some uncon- 

 trollable disease or insect is preying upon his planta- 

 tion, there is something wrong with his system of man- 

 agement, or his location is unfavorable. 



A point which those engaged in all lines of agri- 

 cultural production need to appreciate more and more, 

 is that the bulk of any crop is required to defray the 

 actual cost of production, and that it is only beyond 

 this limit that any profit lies. As an illustration, sup- 

 pose that by ordinary methods of cultivation an acre of 

 blackberries produces seventy bushels, and that sixty 

 bushels are required to repay the cost of production. 

 Now, if by judiciously increasing the cost of production 

 to seventy bushels by more liberal fertilizing or better 

 cultivation, we can increase the yield to ninety bushels, 

 the profit is doubled. Nor does this fully express the 

 difference, for with an additional expense equivalent to 

 ten bushels, we have secured an additional profit of ten 

 bushels, and the additional outlay has paid a return of 



