COMFORT ME WITH APPLES
September added a new item to our list of articles sold; small, indeed,
but the beginning of the fourth and last product of our factory
farm,--fruit from our newly planted orchards. The three hundred plum
trees in the chicken runs gave a moderate supply for the colony, and the
dwarf-pear trees yielded a small crop; but these were hardly included in
our scheme. I expected to be able, by and by, to sell $200 or $300 worth
of plums; but the chief income from fruit would come from the fifty
acres of young apple orchards.
I hope to live to see the time when these young orchards will bring me
at least $5 a year for each tree; and if I round out my expectancy (as
the life-insurance people figure it), I may see them do much better. In
the interim the day of small things must not be despised. In our climate
the Yellow Transparent and the Duchess do not ripen until early
September, and I was therefore at home in time to gather and market the
little crop from my six hundred trees. The apples were carefully picked,
for they do not bear handling well, and the perfect ones were placed in
half-bushel boxes and sent to my city grocer. Not one defective apple
was packed, for I was determined that the Four Oaks stencil should be as
favorably known for fruit as for other products.
The grocer allowed me fifty cents a box. "The market is glutted with
apples, but not your kind," said he. "Can you send more?" I could not
send more, for my young trees had done their best in producing
ninety-six boxes of perfect fruit. Boxes and transportation came to ten
cents for each box, and I received $38 for my first shipment of fruit.
I cannot remember any small sum of money that ever pleased me
more,--except the $28 which I earned by seven months of labor in my
fourteenth year; for it was "first fruits" of the last of our
interlacing industries.
Thirty-eight dollars divided among my trees would give one cent to each;
but four years later these orchards gave net returns of ninety cents for
each tree, and in four years from now they will bring more than twice
that amount. At twelve years of age they will bring an annual income of
$3 each, and this income will steadily increase for ten or fifteen
years. At the time of writing, February, 1903, they are good for $1 a
year, which is five per cent of $20.
Would I take $20 apiece for these trees? Not much, though that would
mean $70,000. I do not know where I could place $70,000 so that it
would pay five per cent this year, six per cent next year, and twenty
per cent eight or ten years from now. Of course, $70,000 would be an
exorbitant price to pay for an orchard like mine; but it must be
remembered that I am old and cannot wait for trees to grow.
If a man will buy land at $50 or $60 an acre, plant it to apple trees
(not less than sixty-five to the acre), and bring these trees to an age
when they will produce fruit to the value of $1.50 each, they will not
have cost more than $1.50 per tree for the land, the trees, and the
labor.
I am too old to begin over again, and I wish to see a handsome income
from my experiment before my eyes are dim; but why on earth young men do
not take to this kind of investment is more than I can see. It is as
safe as government bonds, and infinitely safer than most mercantile
ventures. It is a dignified employment, free from the ordinary risks of
business; and it is not likely to be overdone. All one needs is energy,
a little money, and a good bit of well-directed intelligence. This
combination is common enough to double our rural population, relieve the
congestion in trades and underpaid employments, and add immensely to the
wealth of the country. If we can only get the people headed for the
land, it will do much toward solving the vexing labor problems, and will
draw the teeth of the communists and the anarchists; for no one is so
willing to divide as he who cannot lose by division. To the man who has
a plot of ground which he calls his own, division doesn't appeal with
any but negative force. Neither should it, until all available lands are
occupied. Then he must move up and make room for another man by his
side.
The sales for the quarter ending September 30 were as follows:--
96 half-bushel boxes of apples $38.00
9 calves 104.00
Eggs 543.00
Butter 1293.00
Hogs 3407.00
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Total $5385.00
This was the best total for any three months up to date, and it made me
feel that I was getting pretty nearly out of the woods, so far as
increasing my investment went.
Including my new hog-house and ten thousand bushels of purchased grain,
the investment, thought I, must represent quite a little more than
$100,000, and I hoped not to go much beyond that sum, for Polly looked
serious when I talked of six figures, though she was reconciled to any
amount which could be stated in five.
My buildings were all finished, and were good for many years; and if
they burned, the insurance would practically replace them. My granary
was full enough of oats and corn to provide for deficits of years to
come; and my flocks and herds were now at their maximum, since Sam had
turned more than eight hundred pullets into the laying pens. I began to
feel that the factory would soon begin to run full time and to make
material returns for its equipment. It would, of course, be several
years before the fruit would make much showing, but I am a patient man,
and could wait.