The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1889-03-07
ALLIANCE DEPARTMENT.
MARIETTA JOURNAL IS THE
official organ Of the Farmers alliance
Of Cobb County,
FRUIT CULTURE NO. 3.

brought our orchard to the close OF
tne sixth year, By reasonable
nd we think a liberal ca!eala-
ton, we claimed as the product of
this year forty bushels of peaches
! and fifteen of apples. Here is met
the difficulty alluded to previously,
namel, "a proper valuation of the
fruit in the absence of regular
market. We will try to overcome
this difficulty by ascertaining its
value as stock food, and take that
as basis for calculation. This is
certainly the least remunerative
value that we can attach to fruit
and if from this standpoint we can
show fair profit, we think our po-
sition that fruit culture is profitable
will be clearly established. Expert
ments and chemical analysis show
that one bushel of corn is about as
equivalent to five bushels of fruit
for hogs. Calculating the corn at
seventy-6ve cents would give ff-
teen cents as the worth of the
peaches or apples. Eight dollars
and seventy-fve cents then would
be the value of the fifty-fve bushels
of fruit. Deduct S. as the total
expense account and 1925 will be
the net profits. This is not very
fiattering exhibit, yet it is about
equal to what wheat or corn or oats
will do one year with another. The
profits will increase for a number OF
years, probably ten or twelve. The
seventh year ought to show an in
crease, at least in the apple crop, of
fully twenty bushels. The peaches
remaining the same, and the ex-
penses neither increasing nor di-
minishing, this would give us a net
income of 1928, A reasonable CAL
culation for the tenth year would he
100 bushels, or nearly 100 per cent.
On the Investment. Will the orch
ard do this! asks an inquirer. We
answer that it is a probability often
realized. True, some of the trees
will die; others become scrubby
and bear little or no fruit. Late
trosts often kill the crop; the fruit
becomes wormy and drop prema.
turely, aud other misfortunes NAV
derange our calculations and cut
short our anticipations, but we can
make due allowance for all these
mishaps-we can afford to be mag
unanimous and still have wide mar
gin for profits. Remember, we have
only counted on peach crop every
alternate year, and one bushel an
nually from the fourth year to the
tenth. Surprising the tree to last
only ten years, its entire product is
only seven bushels. A single tree
in one year has often produced more
than that. An apple tree ought to
bear from five to ten bushels an
nually from the tenth to the twen-
tieth year of its existence. Take
the smaller amount as the average.
and suppose that half of the apple
trees have died; suppose, also, that
all the peach trees are dead. This
will leave uslonly thirty of the 100
original trees. Five bushels to the
tree gives US $50 bushels. These,
at fifteen cents, amount to S22.5O.
Just ninety per cent. ON the invest.
ment of $25. AS no extra land.
however, is usually bought tor an
orchard, we might very properly re-
duce this S25 to SIS, We will then
make fully 100 per cent, after de-
Quoting all expenses. Is there any
objection to this showing? Have
we drawn too heavily on our mag
nations and taken bare possibilities
for plausible probabilities? If so,
cut our figures down one-half. Fifty
per cent ought to satisfy most tillers
OF the soil. Even another sub-di-
vision would bring the orchard out
ahead of most other crops.
+ w AKEpc