274 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



For the Neta Enoland Fanner. 

 BETBOSPECTIVE NOTES. 



Farm Houses and Out-Buildings. — On page 

 170 of current volume, June No., is an editorial 

 notice of a recently published volume which con- 

 tains Designs for Cottages, Villas, Mansions, &c., 

 with their accompanying outbuildings. The re- 

 marks of the Editor deserve to be well consider- 

 ed and remembered by all who are at all likely to 

 build either house or outhouse at any future time ; 

 for undoubtedly those who duly consider them, 

 and act in accordance with them when the time 

 of planning their projected buildings shall have 

 come, will be much profited thereby, and may 

 reckon the advantages derived therefrom as one 

 of the more memorable instances of the benefits 

 received from their agricultural reading. Those 

 who take the wise counsel contaitied in the Edi- 

 tor's remarks will surely be benefitted thereby, 

 for by adopting the course recommended they may 

 escape much or all of the inconvenient arrange- 

 ments and unsightly looks which are but too com- 

 mon among farm buildings, and save, too, not a 

 little sometimes in the cost of construction. It 

 ivilljiay, therefore, for those about to build espec- 

 ially, to turn back to the jiage and passage refer- 

 red to, and to so read and "inwardly digest" the 

 remarks referred to as to have them fixed in the 

 memory, and ready for use and practical applica- 

 tion when the occasion comes. 



Among the many astonishing things which are 

 to be met with every now and then, scarcely any 

 have surprised us more than the self- sx[(/ idem: ij 

 which many or most of our brethren display on 

 occasions when it would be, not only exceedingly 

 reasonable and proper, but also certainly for their 

 interest that they should seek help and light from 

 all the sources within their power. Such an oc- 

 casion is the investing rf several hundred dollars 

 in a farm house ; and yet, though there are so many 

 inconvenient and unseemly buildings, or so many 

 blunders made, how seldom have we known of 

 any one about to build resorting to any book or 

 periodical in which the information might have 

 been had, which the occasion seemed to us to ren- 

 der so important, or even indispensable. 



"Profits of Fruit Culture," — Page 170. — 

 The brief paragraph with the above caption, cop- 

 ied from an exchange paper, is likely to cause 

 some young beginners, and persons of greater 

 hopefulness than thoughtfalness, to form quite ex- 

 travagant and exaggerated ideas of the profitable- 

 ness of fruit culture. And as such erroneous ideas 

 are likely to lead to plans and procedures which 

 must bo followed by losses and disappointments, 

 it has seemed as if there were an obligation rest- 

 ing upon any one who could ])rcsent more correct 

 views — views more in accordance with facts and 

 the reality of things — to make a presentation of 

 them, both for the truth's sake, and for the sake 

 of all concerned. Into what extravagances and 

 disapi)oiiitmcnts might not some be led who should 

 read the first statement in the paragraph referred 

 to, and should get the impression that it was a 

 quite common occurrence, an event to be calculat- 

 ed upon, that an acre of apple trees — at least of 

 Baldwins and Russets — will produce an ir.eome or 



f)rof5t of $800 a year ! The statements which fol- 

 ow are submitted with the intention and expecta- 

 tion that they will aid those interested in forming 

 conceptions, as to the profit of fruit culture, less 



likely to mislead, and more in accordance with 

 the average results of an extensive experience, 

 and of ordinary experience. We would not in- 

 tentionally say anything that would discourage 

 any one from giving a large share of his time, 

 attention and labor to the growth of fruit, for this 

 department of farming has charms and rewards of 

 great value in addition to its pecuniary profitable- 

 ness ; but we think that it is, for several reasons, 

 much more desirable that those about to engage 

 in it should do so with reasonable expectations as 

 to the results or expectations in accordance with 

 ordinary experience, than with hopes based on 

 error and destined to disappointment. 



Another consideration which seems to make it 

 of some importance that extravagant ideas of the 

 profits of fruit culture should be corrected is this — 

 that such expectations tend to put out of sight some 

 of the rewards of such labor which are of a high- 

 er and purer nature than pecuniary profits. ^len 

 should more extensively engage in fruit growing, 

 because [1.] it would contribute to the greater 

 comfort of iheir families; [2.] it would tend to 

 make home and rural jjursuits more attractive to 

 children ; [3.] it tends to refine the tastes and 

 habits of both producers and consumers ; and [4.] 

 lastly, for the present, it would make the supply 

 of fruit more abundant end more attainable by the 

 people at large, and this would certainly be both a 

 blessing and a benefit to multitudes. 



With such reasons for thinking extravagant es- 

 timates of the pecuniary profits of fruit-culture 

 rather pernicious, let us endeavor to determine 

 what might, be accepted as a reasonable or moder- 

 ate estimate of the profits of the most common 

 branch of this business — apple-growing. We could 

 not find, probably, any testimony or statement as 

 to this point more reliable than that of J. J. 

 Thomas, author of The American Fruit CuUnrist. 

 After stating that for the past thirty years such 

 varieties as the Swaar, Rhode Island Greening, 

 &:c., have scarcely varied from twenty-five cents a 

 bushel in places remote from a ready market, 

 Mr. T. says, "An acre of forty trees, with good 

 culture, will average through all seasons not less 

 than 200 bushels, or $50 a yeai'. Instances are 

 frequent of thrice this amount. The farmer, then, 

 who sets out twenty acres of good apple orchard, 

 and takes care of it, may e.xpect, at no remote 

 period, a yearly return of $500 to $1500, and even 

 more if a considerable portion is occupied with 

 late keepers. This is, it is true, much more than 

 the majority obtain ; but the mi\jority wholly neg- 

 lect cultivating and enriching the soils of their or- 

 chards." 



For the first five years a young orchard vields 

 no profits ; and for five years more the profits will 

 be sm:;ll after paying for care and labor. After 

 ten or twelve years trees ought to produce on an 

 average between five and ten bushels per tree, or 

 an acre of 40 trees 200 i o 400 bushels. Afier pay- 

 ing for picking, and marketing, &c., the net projit, 

 at the price named above, would be about '^oo for 

 a crop of 200 bushels, and $80, or about that, if 

 the crop shoakl be as much as 400 bushels. Is 

 this too low ? More Anon. 



^F* The barque Western Metropolis lately trans- 

 ported at one trip from Chicago to Buffalo 72,000 

 bushels of oats and 1000 barrels of pork — the larg- 

 est cargo ever moved on the lakes. 



