Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Bulbs, Etc. 
11 
ORCHARD RETURNS, continued 
and he sold them on the trees for $900, and the following season the same orchard produced 
over 700 bushels, and sold at 75 cents per bushel. 
Three thousand five hundred bushels at $1 a bushel were raised and sold by Mr. R. C. 
Keel, of Rochester, Minn., in one year. 
Of fifty Duchess of Oldenburg planted in 1862 by Mr. Sommervllle, of Viola, Minn., 49 
are still living, healthy and sound. Mr. Sommerville says he has not had a failure in fruit 
for twenty-five years, and they have given him a larger net profit during that time than 
the best 40 acres of his farm. 
Mr. Lord, of Minnesota City, Minn., says he has picked S3 bushels of plums in one sea- 
son from 25 trees and sold them at $2.10 a bushel, and has missed but two crops in 30 years. 
Mr. Coolc, of Cottonwood county, Minn., says he sold $60 worth of plums from 15 trees 
in 1894. 
In the fall of 1903 Elias Long, of Stilson, Iowa, gathered 12 bushels of apples from four 
trees of Northwestern Greening purchased of us in 1897. Six of these apples placed side 
by side measured 20 inches, and ten of them weighed 6}4 pounds. 
Nine years ago we sold C. P. Warner, of Bassett, Iowa, two trees of Malinda from which 
he has this season (1903) gathered 17 bushels of apples. 
In 1902 C. G. Patten & Son, of Charles City, Iowa, gathered 333 barrels of first-class 
apples from 293 trees of Duchess of Oldenburg, occupying a little less than three acres of 
land; they sold this crop for $2.10 per barrel; from the same trees in 1903 they gathered 443 
barrels of first-class fruit, which brought $2.65 per barrel. They also tell us that from their 
orchard of Patten Greening, which had been planted six years in 1903, they gathered on 
an average a little better than one barrel per tree, some yielding i }4 barrels per tree. 
In the above statement no account has been made of windfalls and second-class fruit, 
which was gathered and disposed of at retail, and the prices named are those received for 
goods at wholesale delivered f. o. b. Charles City. You will notice by the above figures that 
their orchard of Duchess of Oldenburg is yielding them an annual income from $242 to 
$382.50 per acre. 
Do Orchards Pay? 
We have given above a few facts with regard to the profit of orcharding in this section, 
and these facts arc given merely as suggestions. If you will investigate matters carefully in 
any neighborhood we believe you will be able to pick up information with regard to the yield 
of fruit that will surprise you. Visit the leading fruit-growers and ascertain from them 
what they have planted, when it was planted, and what they have been able to get in the way 
of crops. Usually you will be compelled to pick up this information in small items; fre- 
quently you can get at accurate figures with regard to the yields of perhaps but a few trees 
in a place, but from these you can quickly figure what the yield would have been on an 
orchard of 10 acres, and the returns that could have been realized, figuring the crop at usual 
market prices. Such investigation, we believe, will readily convince any thoughtful per- 
son that there is far more profit in commercial orcharding in the North today than there is in 
any other use to which good lands can be put. 
Beyond any question, there is good money today an a good commercial orchard in the 
Northwest. Where varieties are well chosen, planted in good soil, and given intelligent care, 
we believe a person can make dollars in Iowa or any of its adjoining states, raising apples or 
plums, to dimes that can be made in California raising oranges, lemons or prunes. 
We urge you to plant a few varieties for this purpose. Four is a big plenty, and one or two 
is better still, for the reason that, when one has a large number of trees loaded with one 
variety, he will always find plenty of wholesale fruit dealers in the cities who will come to 
his place and buy the fruit in the orchard, paying the best market price, and giving him a 
sure and ready market; whereas, if many varieties are planted, one is confined to local markets 
and to a peddling trade, which is never satisfactory and often unprofitable. 
Apples have been sold in the orchards here this season at prices ranging upward of $2.50 
per barrel in car lots, when the same varieties were begging for sale on the street in small lots 
at 2S cents per bushel. 
Apricot 
Alexis. Large to very large; yellow 
with red cheek; slightly acid, but rich 
and luscious. Tree hardy and abundant 
bearer. July 15. 
Alexander. An immense bearer; fruit 
of large size, oblong, yellow, flecked with 
red, flavor sweet and delicious. Tree 
hardy. One of the best. July i. 
J. L. Budd. Of large size, white with 
red check; flavor sweet, juicy, extra fine. 
A hardy strong grower and profuse 
bearer. The best late variety. August i. 
We have oyer half a million Apple Trees and hundreds of thousands of Evergreens 
