354 



FEUIT- GROWING 



FRUIT-GROWING 



the third year possibly two rows, the fourth year 

 not over three rows, the fifth year about the 

 same, and so on till the end of the seventh year. I 

 would cease cropping ground entirely and expect 

 to get some returns the eighth year. 



" As to profits to be derived from the orchard, I 

 can only give ray experience in the Arkansas 

 valley. When my 2,000 apple trees were nine 

 years old, the crop netted $90 per acre. Next 

 year we did not spray and lost half the crop 

 by codlin-moth. The third year we sprayed part 

 of the trees four times and part twice, and the part 

 sprayed four times (these trees being twelve years 



Fig. 504. Delivering peaches to cars in New York. 



old) dropped scarcely any fruit and it packed 

 over 75 per cent No. 1 ; these are now bringing 

 $1.25 per bushel. The better parts of the orchards 

 netted $150 per acre. We figure that spraying, 

 picking, sorting, packing, hauling to storage and 

 loading in the car cost us, including the package, 

 thirty-five to forty cents per bushel box, with labor 

 at $1.75 to $2 for an average picker. In this lo- 

 cality, wheat on the same kind of land might aver- 

 age twenty bushels to the acre and the average 

 price be about sixty cents. Some land will produce 

 thirty to fifty bushels." 



Market problems. 



In a general article, it is impossible to give spe- 

 cific practical advice on the harvesting and market- 

 ing of fruits, for the practices differ with each 

 fruit and sometimes with the community. Yet it is 

 possible to make statements of points of view. 



If a crop is worth raising with much labor and 

 care, it is equally worth marketing. It is perhaps 

 unusual that one man is equally competent in the 

 growing and the selling. The professional sales- 

 man seems to be a necessity. He can usually 

 market the products more effectively and cheaply 



than the general grower can. This may or may 

 not apply to the grower of very choice and special 

 products, that are used by a particular and per- 

 sonal trade : in such cases, the grower may put his 

 products directly in the consumer's hands. 



Much is said about the necessity of growing a 

 fancy product, but this carries with it the condition 

 that there are special means of marketing it. An 

 unusually goed article of fruit, put on the general 

 market, usually does not pass under the owner's 

 name or mark, and it is likely to be lost in the 

 commoner grades ; or if better prices are realized 

 on the open market, the dealer may be the one 

 who receives most of 

 the extra reward. The 

 value of grades that 

 are much above the 

 general market stock 

 is secured when tho 

 grower can make a 

 sale while his name is 

 still associated with 

 the product. If there 

 is profit in growing 

 very special-class fruit 

 for limited markets, 

 there is also profit in 

 growing staple kinds 

 for the staple prices, if 

 one can cheapen and 

 economize the cost of 

 production and if he 

 has sufllcient quantity 

 to give volume to the 

 business. 



The above consider- 

 ations determine very 

 largely the question of 

 the size and style of 

 package. That is, the 

 package is not fundamental ; it is incidental to 

 the kind of market that is to be reached. With 

 the increasing demand for high-class products, the 

 small, carefully graded package is coming into 

 greater use. It is true, also, that the attractive- 

 ness of the package will stimulate sales, but, as 

 already indicated, this advantage accrues to the 

 grower chiefly when he has his own hand on the 

 marketing of his products. 



Merchandizing of all kinds has established new 

 ideals and developed new values by the attention 

 that has been given to grading and packing. It is 

 not many years ago that boots and shoes were 

 shipped in bulk in large cases. The small package 

 is now a feature of trade ; and each package con- 

 tains only one grade of goods. Before the fruit- 

 grower can establish a special market, he must 

 develop a clear conception of grades. Usually, 

 only two grades are made in fruits,— the salable 

 and the unsalable. Of the salable part we may 

 yet make two to four grades in some kinds of 

 fruits. A first-class grade comprises only fruits 

 that are physically perfect and are typical of the 

 kind. First-class fruits are always in demand, 

 whatever the state of the general market; and 



