COMMEKCIAL ORCHARDING IN WEST VIRGINIA. 17 



The more skillful and experienced orchardists may get a larger 

 average yield than that mentioned; but it is an important fact to 

 keep in mind that a crop of as much as 3 baskets per tree in one year 

 over a large orchard is an exceptional yield. Taking into consider- 

 ation the many chances due to weather, diseases, and insect pests, 

 conditions which the most skillful manager can as yet only partially 

 control, a large variation from the average of 10 to 12 baskets in the 

 8 years can not be expected. 



On a very well-managed orchard on red land a calculation was 

 made, based on the history of the orchard, which was 10 years old. 

 It has now reached its maximum vigor and will begin to decline. If 

 the orchard duplicates its production during the period of decline, 

 it will have yielded 13.65 baskets per tree during its life of 14 years. 

 On the same basis it may be predicted that one of the best orchards 

 on chert land at the end of its profitable life at 18 years will have 

 yielded 17 baskets of peaches per tree. 



SUMMARY OF COSTS IN PEACH ORCHARDING. 



It has been stated that peach orcharding is rarely carried on as a 

 separate enterprise. For this reason it is difficult to determine just 

 what the profits might be. By analysis of the information given, 

 however, it is possible to calculate approximately the profits that may 

 be expected from a peach orchard alone. 



The cost of land 1 is an important item of expense, and in the end 

 must be a determining factor in the distribution of the fruit industry, 

 as it is in any other industry. 



At the present time land on which peach orchards are developing 

 will cost from $10 to $35 per acre, the average price of cleared land 

 being about $20, which amount will be taken as a basis of calcu- 

 lation. Like all regions where a new industry is developing, the tend- 

 ency has been to put a speculative value on land. For the purposes 

 of taxation and for use the farmers in this section value such land at 

 about $8 per acre. 



The original cost of land, improvements, planting of trees, equip- 

 ment, accumulated interest, and the cost of routine operations for the 

 development and maintenance of the orchard may at the end of four 

 years be considered the investment in the business. At this time 

 the orchard should begin to yield an income. By the end of its life 

 the orchard should have paid a reasonable dividend on the investment 

 at 4 years of age and should have returned to the owner or stock- 

 holders all it cost except the market value of the land and equipment 

 at the end of the period. 



1 Many years ago peaches were raised for the market in the Shenandoah Valley, but the rise in price of land 

 is admitted to be one of the great factors in pushing these industries into the region of cheaper land to the 

 west. 



