1911. 
VINEYARD OR APPLE ORCHARD. 
On page 515 a “greenhorn” asks which will pay him 
better as an investment—a vineyard or a good apple 
orchard? The following opinions are given by expert 
growers: 
It is indeed a hard proposition to decide between 
the vineyard and the apple orchards, not alone for a 
greenhorn, but for a practical man. It all depends 
on the location, the like and dislike of the man and 
the dispositon to take chances, or in other words, 
the means at command to take the risk. Here in 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y., growers take out apple or¬ 
chards and plant grapes. I myself would not accept 
an offer from the owner of a 10-acre orchard in this 
county, if he offered me the same, to work, cultivate 
and spray the same in an up-to-date workmanlike 
manner for the whole crop that I might gather; too 
much of a gambling game. On the other hand, an 
up-to-date vineyard in Chautauqua County, valued at 
$500 and selling for that, has for the last 20 years 
paid 20 per cent on that sum. Looking at my books I 
find that last year six acres netted $707.88, a little 
more you see than 20 per cent on $500 
per acre. If, however, you put this 
proposition in Niagara County, grapes 
would not be in it and the apple orchard 
would make the showing. Besides the 
locality comes the question of the work. 
I like the vineyard work best; it keeps 
me on the ground, I do not have to 
climb ladders or stand on a high plat¬ 
form to spray. The picking and pack¬ 
ing is mostly done by young women, 
certainly better company than any other 
you can get, and a grapevine is so re¬ 
sponsive to treatment that you can al¬ 
most do anything with it that you want 
to do, and when you prune it you can 
so do the work that you may tell, within 
a pound, how many grapes you will har¬ 
vest from that vine. By this you will 
see that it is impossible for me to say 
which offers the better chance for that 
man, but it seems to me that the man 
himself is the best qualified to decide 
the question, which is simply this: Let 
the owner of each property bring satis¬ 
factory proof what the property has pro¬ 
duced and for what it has been sold. 
The cost of production and package is 
in favor of the vine 3 r ard, but very little; 
the rest is simply a matter of arithmetic. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. c. schoenfeld. 
That is like asking which is worth 
more, a horse or a mule. So much de¬ 
pends on the conditions; the locality, 
soil, climate, varieties, former treatment 
and many other considerations would 
enter in to lead one to a decision. But 
on your statement that both are in good 
condition, every way, I should choose 
the orchard. If the inquirer is the green¬ 
horn he claims to be, he would best get 
some one of experience along both lines 
of work, to look over the properties and 
give him an opinion on their respective 
and comparative values, and not depend 
on the “guess” of anyone not familiar 
with the conditions. e. c. gileett. 
Yates Co., N. Y. 
My experience has been that«an apple 
orchard would pay more net per acre 
than would a vineyard, although a dif¬ 
ferent location might reverse those re¬ 
sults. I have no idea what a fruit 
juice factory pays for the grapes, but if 
the inquirer can get anything over $20 or $25 per ton, 
and can get good crops year after year, it would be 
a good paying investment. For the last few years 
apples have been abnormally high, while grapes, while 
bringing good prices, have not been as high in pro¬ 
portion; just when the above may be reversed none 
of us can tell. b. j. case. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
The fact of the vineyard being near a juice factory 
is in its favor, but in the absence of any knowledge 
as to prices such factory pays, nothing can be said 
definitely. Assuming that his grapes are Concords, I 
may say that price usually paid by such concerns 
ranges at from $18 to $30 per ton as a rule. Assum¬ 
ing that vineyard is in good condition as stated, your 
inquirer might feel reasonably sure of an average 
yearly yield of four tons per acre, which at $25 would 
furnish a gross income of $100. He may wish to buy 
the vineyard, but I would urge him to go slow and 
investigate for himself. This price named is perhap.l 
more than he could get, and four tons of grapes yearl_v 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
means a goodly expense annually to keep up to that 
production. I think I may say that the annual ex¬ 
pense of keeping up such a vineyard will not vary far 
from $50 per acre. Under some conditions it might 
easily be more, and some years it might be that in¬ 
stead of having $50 per acre left to pay for his labor, 
interest on investment, insurance, taxes, etc., his mar¬ 
gin might be very small, or even nothing. This de¬ 
pends on the price received. As to the orchard, which 
as stated we will assume to be in good condition and 
to consist of good varieties, such orchard can be main¬ 
tained at one-half the expense (or even less) of the 
vineyard. Assuming it to have good scientific care, 
such as a vineyard must have, I should pcrsonall}* 
much prefer the orchard, and think that at the end 
of 10 years the man with the orchard would have gold 
dollars to the vineyardist’s brass buttons. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. f. a. seeeey. 
WHAT DOES THE MIDDLEMAN GET? 
Last Summer I purchased in Detroit some standard 
style shirts for $1 each. Recently I went to a store 
here to duplicate this brand and was asked $1.25 for 
the same shirt. Speaking of my Detroit purchase and 
asking what made the difference in price, I was told 
it was on account of freight charges. I went home 
and sat down and figured that the freight charges, 
plus packing, boxing, hauling, etc., sifted down to a 
single shirt would amount to short of two cents. The 
retailer in this case, it seems to me, is hiding behind 
an argument that does not sound plausible. 
Another illustration: Here in the South we have 
no split nickels, and pennies are not in general use 
with the grocery trade, etc. When a corner grocery 
notes an advance in eggs for instance, a cent or two 
a dozen, their price is immediately raised an even 
nickel per dozen, and he sa 3 r s, “Eggs are up;” whereas 
in a declining market the consumer is not given the 
benefit of any portion of the decline until it reaches 
an even nickel. victor eabadie. 
Texas. 
R. N.-Y.—In the da}’S before stem-winding watches 
were in general use we went into a store in Colorado 
63© 
to buy a watch key. The price as we recall it was 25 
cents for a key which cost three cents in Boston. The 
reason given for this remarkable price was that 
“freight rates are very high.” Just figure out the 
freight rate on a single watch key! We may get under 
these ridiculous excuses and blow them up >^et. Parcels 
post would put an end to it! Senator Bailey, of Texas, 
killed the trial of parcels post. 
CRIMSON CLOVER AND VETCH IN GEORGIA 
We have seen much in The R. N.-Y. in regard to 
the use of Crimson clover for a Winter cover crop in 
the South, and the editor is surprised that it is not 
more generally planted. But our experience and 
others in middle Georgia is that Crimson clover is 
not a success except in very favored spots, viz., <5eep. 
rich bottoms or very heavily manured lands. We 
have had fine growth in the creek bottoms, but never 
with any success on the poor worn-out uplands. This 
is also the experience of our State Experiment Sta¬ 
tion. We have, though, in the Hairy vetch, a Winter 
cover crop that is entirely at home, and 
no matter how poor or depleted in 
humus the soil may be, you can get a 
satisfactory growth with the addition of 
a small amount of phosphoric acid. We 
also find that where it has not been 
previously grown inoculation pays. We 
have never found a better crop to sow 
with vetch than wheat; do not like rye, 
as it comes too early for the vetch 
when cut for a hay crop. Fig. 184 shows 
part of Qur Kieffer pear orchard in its 
second year with vetch and wheat be¬ 
tween rows, with three-foot strip plowed 
up each side of trees and cultivated. 
This land at time of planting orchard 
had been abandoned as too poor to cul¬ 
tivate, but by deep plowing and the use 
of vetch and cow peas is in good tilth 
and fertility, and the orchard is the 
pride of all who use it. Fig. 185 shows 
the orchard exactly three years later, 
also John and the spring-tooth making 
a fine seed bed. w. & r. 
Pomona, Ga. 
ANNUAL BEARING BALDWINS. 
I was much interested in what B. D. 
V. B. says, page 459, about annual bear¬ 
ing of Baldwins, and would like to state 
m} - experience, as it differs somewhat. 
My orchard contains Spies, Baldwins, a 
few Russets and a score or more of 
Calvert Pippins. My Spies for the last 
17 years have had an average crop of 
fruit each year; last year, the least, 
about two barrels to tree; Calverts a 
good crop alternate years; Baldwins, a 
varied yield, some branches have fruit 
nearly all seasons, other limbs on al¬ 
ternate }'ears, and other trees will bear 
heavily one year, and skip one, some¬ 
times two. I had an idea I could feed 
them up to yearly fruiting, but have 
given it up. As to treatment, the whole 
orchard gets a dressing of stable ma¬ 
nure, every two years, a dressing of 
muriate of potash, 400 pounds per acre, 
every five years; of acid phosphate the 
same; is plowed every fifth year, then 
cultivated with disk and spring-tooth 
harrow for three years, and then allowed 
to lie untilled one year. The last sea¬ 
son I began experiment in mulching. ■ 
We spray as we think necessary, from two to fout 
times. Six years ago the blister mite caused nearly 
all foliage to drop before apples matured, but the 
Baldwins kept right on in their own way next season, 
so I have concluded that as Dame Nature is a female, 
she will have her own way in spite of me. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. w. l. bradley. 
If I were to come onto your farm and set 750 teams 
to work for a week hauling water onto a quarter section 
at the rate of four tons a day, I would then only put 
on as much water as evaporates in a week when there 
is a good moisture content in the soil. 
That is the way President Worstof the North Dakota 
College puts it. This work would mean nine horses 
to the acre hauling water as fast as the sun and air 
sucked it out of the soil. Two good horses on a 
harrow would cover at least 220 acres per day or with 
cultivators 15 acres and by stirring up the upper soil 
into a mulch save as much water by preventing evapo¬ 
ration as 150 horses could haul into the field! It 
would seem therefore that praying for rain could be 
done most effectively on the harrow or cultivator. In 
Spring the soil is usually well supplied with moisture; 
drought comes later through loss of water. 
TWO-YEAR-OLD KIEFFER PEARS-VETCH BETWEEN. Fig. 184 . 
SAME ORCHARD AT FIVE YEARS—GOOD CULTURE. Fig. 185. 
