The Balance Sheet of an Orchard 
BEING THE REASON FOR THE FAILURE OR SUCCESS OF THE BACK-TO-THE-LANDER— 
THE FOURTH YEAR WORK IN APPLES—ENSURING SUCCESS BY DIVERSIFIED CROPS 
T HE handshake of greeting was hardly over when the 
question that was in the heart of my friend leaped to 
his lips: ‘‘Does it pay in dollars and cents?” 
The query took me unawares and I answered somewhat 
vaguely: “Why, yes, of course it pays,” which was not a correct 
answer. “It” does not pay. No “it” on earth would pay in the 
hands of some people. The Standard Oil Company could be 
ruined in a decade if its destinies were to fall into the hands 
of incompetents. No farm, no orchard can long economically 
endure by itself. Systems of farm management change con¬ 
tinually and must continue to do so to meet changing conditions. 
A system that pays to-day may fall behind hopelessly five years 
hence. 
. The real question is: Do “you” pay? Are “you” a yielder of 
dividends? Can “you” make use of the opportunities which the 
land provides to make an income ? 
Only four years ago I was asking myself that very same 
question, even while hoping, with every grain of faith that was 
within me, that the answer was in the affirmative. 
The New York State Department of Agriculture believes that 
“More farmers miss real success 
because the business is too small 
than for any other single reason. 
Lack of diversity is the weak 
factor in a great many farms. 
Poor production limits the success 
of about as many farms as does 
diversity.” This lack of successful 
planning is usually the fault of 
the man himself. It is the per¬ 
sonal factor. Can “you” discern 
and correlate the various oppor¬ 
tunities offered on your farm so 
that the sum total of the work may 
be profit? 
The problems to be met are individual; they belong to the 
place and to the man. Methods which will succeed on this farm 
will not pay on the next one to it, while the owner of the 
adjoining place could not handle this orchard successfully as I 
handle it, neither could I run his farm as he is doing. He makes 
money on crops that would ruin me. Lie brings up the pro- 
ductivitv of his land by methods that would mean a debit entry 
every year that I attempted it. Certainly, I envy him his ability 
and, possibly, he envies me some of my opportunities. 
The same authority states that if the farmer cannot figure 
out a labor income for himself equal to that of the man he 
hires, it might be wise for him to give up farming and work 
for his neighbors. Certainly this may be, if the man is so 
dead as to accept .this condition of affairs and sink under it. 
Then let him live as a hireling all the days of his life. 
It takes a lot of capital of money, of time and of experience 
to build up a farming business. For years the balance sheet 
may be on the wrong side of the ledger, although the farmer 
is gathering together the factors which later will ensure success. 
Much, may be properly charged to development, education and 
organization. The right appor¬ 
tionment of these costs is one of 
the personal problems in the life. 
It is unwise to give a $5,000 edu¬ 
cation to a $500 boy, but a $5,000 
boy is not equipped for his great¬ 
est development with a $500 edu¬ 
cation. Can you see a good chance 
of a thousand-dollar income from 
your farm ? Then an investment 
of $15,000 is yielding slightly over 
six per cent. Are you looking for¬ 
ward, with some confidence to 
making $5,000? Then on an in¬ 
vestment of $80,000 you would be 
By planting such crops as will not interfere with the apple activities, we 
are able to increase the net income of the farm 
35 
