Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-06-04
van, OF :. App.s oscaard.

1t is possible that the worth OF an APP
pie orchard be overestimated, but II Of
good varieties. old enough TO bear and
convenient for marketing, it will pay
for an immense amount Of thought and
labor, and give good profit besides
without these 1t will probably pay
nothing, as thousands Of orchards have
not these past few years. Can any CON
dition more hopeful be desired than
thlss We think not. Nothing is pro-
daeed except by combined labor. skill
and thought. Ii there could be, an
economical chaos would result The
value of the apple orchard consists in
the amount it can be made to pay inter-
est upon with certainty, after paying
for the necessary labor to grow
and harvest the crop What
ever the mass OF apple growers
may thiak. this Is vastly better for them
than continuing In the old notion that
apples will grow. il at all, of themselves,
and that all the expense of the crop is
in harvesting it. Allowing forty trees
per acre, the tearing of q barrel of fruit
10 each tree viii give even in years Of
low prices more money than can be got
from most grain crops But with mod.
ern facilities for spraying TO destroy in
seer enemies and fungus growths, apple
trees fully grown ought to bare five bar
reis per tree. We have known individ-
ual trees in good years to much exceed
this amount, T'hirty-one years ago last
fall we picked from large greening tree
fourteen barrels of salable fruit, besides
the windfalls and those otherwise in-
perfect IL stood on rich ground. but
richer than .snrta u,.tt
afford to give to all the trees in his
orchard for such a yield as this. The
old tree was long since cut down, but it
paid for all the land its roots occupied
many times over. If apple growing can
be or has already been reduced to
science such yields as this ought not to
be uncommon. To make the most profit
from an orchard only the most produc-
tive and best keeping apples should be
grown. Greening, Baldwin, Northern
spy and Russo: are for eastern localities
scarcely exceeded yet by newer vari-
cites. In our experience Baldwin and
Northern Spy hardly come up to Green
ings in productiveness, though their red
color makes them more snowy on the
tree and often more salable. The lack
of color Of the Russell should not cause
IL " Dc utklcCtct, as IL Is 50 kOOu n
keeper, and its fine quality makes
amends for any defect in looks. The
Fameuse and Lady apple are each ex-
cellent varieties and very profitable for
market How much per acre is a
well bearing orchard of these trees
worth? If given the attention they
should have they will not only
pay for that, but also the inter
est on larger amount than possibly the
entire farm has given under slipshod
methods Of managing il. What farmers
most need is greater faith in their own
business-a belief that thought, skill
aud money invested in developing the
capacity Of its different departments will
pay as surely and even more surely than
do such qualities engaged i'll railroads,
in commerce and manufactures. When
farmers have this faith, they will soon
learn to make their business pay. So
long as they do not have it much of the
best blood and brain belonging to the
farm will be attracted elsewhere. While
there are reasons explaining failure of
apple crops the last few years, it must
not be forgotten that men who might
have found the means to prevent it have
so largely been engaged in other BUSH
ness.-American Cultivator.