The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-10
Fortunes in Fruit.

! have before me a number of such
p'ospectuscs. They say that land plant
cd in cacao, the tree that yields the choc-
olate bean, should yield at least $500 an
acre per year The cacao trees come into
bearing In four or five years. and when
full grown should average eight or ten
pounds per tree. Two hundred and i..ty
trees can be grown OH an acre, and the
cacao beans will sell. so 1t is stated, at
fifteen cents a pound, AS to pincapplcs,
these prospectuses say 6, 600 can be grown
on one acre, and they will sell from five
to ten cents apiece, which seem TO me
high prices.
The stories of orange growing are even
more glowing. A ten-acre grove, ac-
cording to these estimates. will make a
man independent and fifty acres will net
him a fortune. In one advertisement !
see that ten acres OF oranges should
yield within five years, after planting
50, 600 from which, dcductlng the cost
OF the land and the trees $500. leaves u
cash profit of $3.50. These figures are
based on the hypothesis that man
cares for his own orchard and that the
trees begin to bear at three years It
IS stated that after the fifth year the
yield will greatly Increase, and that at
+he age of ten years the ten-acrc grove
should produce from $4,000 to $4,000
a year
1t is u common statement here that a
| good orange grove in Florida Is valued
| at at least n thousand dollars an acre.
and that innsmuch as Cuba has no frost
| and the cost Of getting the fruit to the
| market Is about the same, such Cuban
lands should eventually he worth double
that,
Another estimate which | have before
me, taken from an article in tho Ila-
vana Post. states that the cost of sci :
ting out forty acres OF oranges incud-
ing the houses ard other buildings, Is
i $4,000. and that 81 $50 900 outlay viii re-
suit In an excellent forty-acre grove at
the end or five years. Such n .;rovp.
according to this, should produce, Mt one
l box TO the tree, 81 600 a year and when
the grove reaches It's maximum in the
| tenth year six boxes per tree or S24 zoe
per annum, These are interesting fig
ures. and even II divided by half they
make orange growing attractive.
Profits in Colopizing.
At the same time / wonder whether
there is moi even moro prof., in buying
the big tracts of land and selling them
again than In putting them out in
| oranges. Take for Instance, one of the
best-advertised colonies which is backed
by n rich banker OF New York. Its own
ers have 100000 acres OF land, most ~
which they have bought, al liberal
estimate. from 81 to S. an acre.
They have 1000 acres under cultivation.
having planted It in orange groves, and
they are selling land, both in the wild and
cultivated State, They began BY selling
raised their prices to so an acre The eul-
tiyatcd land, set out In oranges, was orig
inally sold a, 500 AN acre, the understanj-
ing being that the land would he cleared
and planted and cared for until the trees
Of such lands has been Increased 10 S72'
per acre and am told that tho sales are
numerous and increasing. This colony hHs
established a bank. 1t Is building shippug
houses where oranges can be packed and
sent out on the railroad 10 The Cuba road
whence they win be shipped TO Nipc Bay
and thence 10 New York The proposltlon
based on The product Of orange growing
must he attractlye or there would not ht
purchasers, IT does seem that the differ
ence between IS and S720 ought 10 cover
iha cost ar takaa cara of an acre al