24 BULLETIN 29, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
worked out by which the feed bill of the teams could be greatly 
reduced. On a 200-acre orchard the feed for teams costs about 
$1,200 per year, which amounts in 14 years to $16,800, a sum which 
would materially increase the dividends of the company if it could 
be earned by the teams when idle. 
SOME CONCLUSIONS. 
If a record could be obtained of every peach tree which has been 
set out during the past 25 years in the section of West Virginia under 
discussion it would, no doubt, show that costs had far exceeded 
receipts in peach orcharding. The same fact would probably be 
true of mining. In such enterprises the expectation of unusual 
profits causes many people who know little about the details of man- 
aging them to take chances in winning the unusual profits. The 
result is that many have lost money and a very few have made the 
unusual profit. Thus, there is an economic waste which society 
ought not to permit. This can be prevented only by making it pos- 
sible for individuals to profit by the experience which has been won 
at so great a cost. 
With the most favorable conditions that can be reasonably ex- 
pected and under the most skillful and experienced management aver- 
age dividends of over 25 per cent are practically impossible, but at 
an average price of 65 cents per basket a good manager might rea- 
sonably expect to pay 10 per cent dividends on the money invested. 
It is true that an orchard now and then has paid over 100 per cent. 
This is unusual, and the history of these same orchards will demon- 
strate that the net yearly profits for the life period can not be expected 
to exceed those of average well-managed legitimate business enter- 
prises. 
[REO eat COPIES ofthis publication 
may be procured from the SUPERINTEND- 
ENT OF DOCUMENTS, Government Printing 
Office, Washington, D. C., at 5 cents per copy 
