March, i 9 i 6 
47 
From this we received: 
5 tons mangel-wurzel worth $5 a ton.$25.00 
10 bushels of carrots selling at 60 
cents a bushel. 6.00 
Green oats and peas, value for food.. 10.00 
Total .$41.00 
This left a profit on this inter-crop of 
$20.90 toward paying the upkeep expense of 
this orchard, which was $25.13. These in¬ 
ter-crops kept two Jersey cows in the top 
notch of perfection. The oats and peas were 
sown in rotation, so they were cut green for 
the cows from the first of July, and lasted 
through August. Then the beets were ready 
to be thinned, and the small ones were fed 
along. In November, five tons were stored 
for winter. The carrots were also winter 
food. 
The third orchard of 2,550 trees cost the 
following items the first year: 
Expert pruning . $21.45 
Midsummer pruning. 6.00 
Removing tree protectors. 10.25 
Digging for borers, painting trunks, 
etc. 63.94 
Spraying . 30.41 
Half barrel lime-sulphur. 6.00 
Arsenate of lead. 3.00 
White lead and oil. 5.68 
Cover crop . 20.00 
Total .$166.73 
One hundred and seventy-seven bushels 
of the potatoes raised between the trees of 
the first orchard the year before were 
planted for an inter-crop in this orchard. 
The inter-crop expense was as follows: 
177 bushels of potatoes from cel¬ 
lar, valued at $.50. $88.50 
Commercial fertilizer. 54.00 
Plowing and harrowing. 66.90 
Sorting and cutting seed. 41.55 
Planting . 49.98 
Cultivating and spraying. 59.50 
Bordeaux mixture, a commercial 
brand. 21.90 
Digging and carting to cellar. 146.10 
Total .$528.43 
Nine hundred bushels were harvested 
from this work. The drought that killed 
some of the apple 
trees cut the potato 
crop in two, but the 
price offered as they 
were dug was sixty- 
five cents a bushel. 
At this price we got 
$585 for the work and 
it cost $528.48 to raise 
the crop, leaving a 
profit of $56.57, which 
reduced the upkeep 
expense from $166.73 
to $110.16. But this 
is not the whole story. 
The last orchard of 
2,500 trees had no 
inter-crop. Its main¬ 
tenance cost was as 
follows: 
Pruning . 
Painting, 
h u n t i n g 
borers, etc.. 
Spraying .... 
Half barrel of 
lime-sulphur 
Arsenate 
of lead .... 
Harrowing, picking stones, etc.... 54.30 
Work with cover crop . 75.50 
Seed (rye and vetch) . 28.43 
Total .$287.17 
Compare this expense with the tables for 
the third orchard and it is plain to see that 
much of the work done on an inter-crop 
must be done anyway to keep the ground 
between the trees in condition, so an inter¬ 
crop turns in a larger dividend than the fig¬ 
ures seem to show. Here are the tabulated 
results from all four orchards: 
Orchards 
No.Trees 
Total Upkeep 
Expense 
Inter-crop 
Profit 
Net Expense 
of Upkeep 
1 
429 
$64.10 
$27.09 
$37.01 
2 
197 
25.13 
20.90 
4.23 
3 
2,550 
166.73 
56.57 
110.16 
4 
2,500 
287.17 
287.17 
5,676 
$543.13 
$104.56 
$438.57 
Items 
FROM 
the Bookkeeping 
Depart- 
MENT 
Fixed Investment 
Cost of land (140 acres at $40 an 
acre) . $5,600.00 
Building road . 491.80 
Making pond. 95.50 
Potato cellar . 783.78 
Barn . 3,264.96 
Two farm cottages with water¬ 
works . 4,775.41 
Shed . 212.74 
Orchards set . 3,383.32 
Total .$18,607.51 
Farm Equipment 
Team, wagon, harness. $800.00 
Tools and machinery. 432.48 
Total . $1,232.48 
Maintenance Account 
Upkeep of private road. $25.00 
Net upkeep expense of orchards 
for first year. 438.57 
Teamster and horses. 1,000.00 
Total . $1,463.57 
In the maintenance account the expense 
of the team is listed at $1,000.00. In our 
locality team work can be hired at $4.00 a 
day. There are about 300 working days in 
a year, but only an average of 150 of these 
are spent on actual operations on the or¬ 
chard land. Many days are stormy, and 
during the winter there are only odd jobs 
about the farm to attend to. In all the lists 
of operations here given where team work 
is used, the farm team has been charged in 
the account at $4.00 a day, so that about 
$600.00 should be deducted from the main¬ 
tenance account for the team as direct re¬ 
turns from the team to accounts we have 
considered. So far in the farm develop¬ 
ment we have found it cheaper to hire other 
team work by the day, or growing season, 
rather than to keep more than one work 
team on the place, for we have only enough 
chore work in the winter for one team. 
The expense of maintaining the orchard 
for the first year is all that is considered 
here. We cannot see how this expense can 
be lessened for any year until the filler trees 
begin to bear, unless the inter-crops can be 
made more profitable as the soil begins to 
get in better shape. The returns which we 
hope for when the orchard comes into bear¬ 
ing are only dreams as yet. 
The expenses of running the barn and our 
house and gardens are not counted in here. 
This is a statement of the business end. 
The Final Results 
Yet it would be perhaps unfair to the 
enterprise and to those who have followed 
its development in these pages to omit all 
mention of the health, the fun and experi¬ 
ence which we have gained on the farm. 
In these days much is written of the bene¬ 
fits of going “back to the land,” but too 
frequently it is of an unpractical nature. 
The inspiration of a return to more natural 
conditions, the freedom and sunshine of the 
country as opposed to the city—these are all 
very well, but they are not of the pocket- 
book. 
We have tried to look at the whole ex¬ 
perience as a strictly business proposition, 
and to consider all the elements that af¬ 
fect it as such. The far-sighted business 
man or woman considers more than actual 
coin of the realm. By no means is the 
condition of the coiner to be omitted from 
the summing up. Even though the money 
returns be reduced, 
the enterprise may be 
considered successful 
if its close finds one 
in better condition, 
with more actual 
earning power, than 
in the beginning. 
Our farm has done 
this for us. It has 
been fun and down¬ 
right hard work. We 
have gained in health 
and in working ca¬ 
pacity. The experi¬ 
ence of new things 
has been stored away 
and capitalized, and 
it will increase in 
value as the farm de¬ 
velops. These things 
are real assets; they 
are a part of the busi¬ 
ness end of the game 
as well as of the 
inspirational. They 
should never be omit¬ 
ted in counting the 
cost of farming. 
