Locality and Site for the Commercial Orchard 117 



Time to buy. 



The time to buy is usually when every one wants to 

 sell, although this does not determine the relative merits 

 of the different purchases. The place to buy is in a rec- 

 ognized fruit region. Apple-growing is an established 

 industry and one which will prove profitable over a long 

 period of years, but which may not pay for a short period. 

 No farming enterprise has experienced the ups and downs 

 of fruit-growing. The men who made money were those 

 who, through far-sightedness or good fortune, invested 

 when the tide was low and who remained in the business. 

 A period of good years will always follow one of poor 

 years, and the fact that apple production is not highly 

 sensitive to demand protects the man who invests at the 

 proper time. For example, the total acreage set to apple 

 trees in the decade 1910 to 1920 has been small con- 

 sidering the United States as a whole. It would appear 

 from this that the present apple-growers are approaching 

 a period of prosperity. The cyclic tendencies of apple- 

 growing are exceedingly important from the investor's 

 standpoint, and much depends on the particular time 

 that an investment is made. 



Syndicate projects. 



Investment in syndicate farms or large orchard pro- 

 jects has been discussed elsewhere. It has been the obser- 

 vation of the writers that syndicate farming of any kind, 

 on any type of soil where the owner does not directly over- 

 see the operations, is seldom successful. The same is 

 .true to a great extent for large orchard projects. Pros- 

 pective investors would do well to avoid strictly all so- 



