October, i g i 6 
43 
MAKING THE FARMING BUSINESS PAY 
FLORA LEWIS MARBLE 
Last year there appeared in House & Garden a series of articles called “Counting the Cost of Fanning.” 
It told the experiences of a gentleman farmer who retired from law and went in for orcharding, tie zvas 
willing to invest $5,000 a year for five years. By that time he expected returns. With this article begins 
the story of some of the problems he had to meet before the paying basis came even in sight. It faces the 
problem: “Is there any profit in a dairy in connection with an orchard ?”— Editor. 
I N “Counting t h e 
Cost” I showed 
just how we spent 
$3,383.32 in preparing 
the land and planting 
5,676 apple trees. 
Since then we have 
added 395 new trees, 
purchased for $102.70 
and planted at a cost 
of 20c per tree, bring¬ 
ing the total cost for 
setting the orchard up 
to $3,565.02. 
At the time of writ¬ 
ing the oldest of these 
has been three years 
set. What method of 
cultivation should we 
employ ? How get 
the quickest returns 
for our investment? 
These questions af¬ 
forded much ground 
for consideration. 
As soon as the trees 
were planted the ques¬ 
tion arose : “ W hat 
and how much fer¬ 
tilizer will be need¬ 
ed?” We consulted 
the authorities. 
“Stable manure at 
the rate of about ten tons per acre,” said the 
Pennsylvania State College Bulletin No. 
106, “is one of the best treatments that can 
be given to an orchard, either in sod or in 
connection with the tillage. But a com¬ 
mercial fertilizer carrying about 30 pounds 
of actual nitrogen, 60 pounds of actual 
P205 and 50 pounds of K20, has proven 
almost as good in our experiments.” 
“Nitrogen is apparently of much more 
value in apple orchards than is generally 
supposed,” said Bulletin No. 100. “Its addi¬ 
tion has greatly increased the quality of 
fruit. Many failures with potash and phos¬ 
phate have doubtles been due to 
a deficient nitrogen supply. It 
should be used judiciously, how¬ 
ever, because of an indirect re¬ 
duction in color, and sometimes 
also in size of the fruit.” 
Some Other Opinions 
“Scientists and practical or- 
chardists,” said the Department 
of Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin, 
No. 113, “are generally agreed 
on the great value of well-rooted 
barnyard manure for an apple 
orchard. It not only supplies 
humus, but it contains a large 
percentage of other necessary 
nutritive elements for maintain¬ 
ing health, vigor and fruitfulness 
of tree, and for development of 
the proper quality for a fine fruit 
product.” We read further : 
“A test in a young orchard has 
now been carried on fifteen 
After listening to 
this quartette of ad¬ 
visers, we put aside 
the consideration of 
commercial 
fertilizers. Everyone 
agreed that stable ma¬ 
nure was most valua¬ 
ble. But how were 
we to get a large 
enough supply of it? 
Will a Herd Pay? 
Fifty acres of ap¬ 
ples demanding ten 
tons of manure per 
acre would mean an 
expenditure of $1,500 
if the manure was 
purchased in town. It 
was suggested to keep 
a dairy as a side line, 
making the dairy pay 
its own expenses, or 
better, and having the- 
manure for the or¬ 
chard. Immediately 
the expense of a fifty- 
cow dairy was consid¬ 
ered as a possibly 
feasible plan. How 
much would it cost to 
start ? How much 
could it make? Would it really pay? 
In our vicinity modern barns are scarce. 
The average farmer keeps as many cows as 
he and his son, or hired man, can care for. 
His wife and daughters often help with the 
milking and attend to washing the milk pails 
and cream cans. In many cases the milk is 
sold to the company that ships it to New 
York. This company pays, on the average, 
less than 3j/2 cents a quart. If the whole 
family did not help expenses could not be 
made at that selling price. As a recent 
bulletin put it: “The prices of farm prod¬ 
ucts are based on the production of the farm 
family working as a unit.” 
One man in our community, 
relating his experiences, said, “I 
had to sell my dairy this season. 
My wife is not well enough to 
help with the milk.” 
Another man near us has just 
put up a modern barn. It is sani¬ 
tary but not fancy. It accommo¬ 
dates twenty-six cows. 
The barn cost $3,500. His 
farm of 100 acres with buildings 
is worth $10,000. Barn houses 
26 cows, valued at $75, or $1,950. 
Total, $15,500. 
He raises crops to feed his 
cows. Dairy products are all he 
sells off the place. This makes 
his investment cost, per cow, 
$600. At this rate the cost of a 
fifty-cow dairy would be $30,000. 
The figures were staggering. But 
we recovered our breath and set 
to figuring: “What are the con¬ 
ditions that would make a dairy 
Alfred Hopkins, architect 
“Nearly all the so-called model darns are so expensive as to he impossible on a business 
farm.” says an authority. In such a barn as that above the rent per cow is $100 a year; 
it takes a mighty good cow to yield $100 worth of milk a year at wholesale prices 
years,’’ it said, with magisterial finality, “and 
confirms the belief that on the Station soil, 
fertilisers are wasted in the apple orchard. 
Practically, it may be said, that the money 
paid for fertilizers, varying from $27 to 
$186 an acre for the twelve applications, 
has been buried in the soil. Whether any 
of it will ever rise to profitable activity now 
seems doubtful. This experiment indicates 
that in the average western New York 
tilled apple orchard, if well drained, well 
tilled and properly supplied with organic 
matter from stable manure, or cover crops, 
commercial fertilizers are little needed.” 
The poor farmer is able to make ends meet only by making the 
entire family work. Children are taught to work in the fields 
almost before they are taught their A, B. C's 
