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Streeter, John Williams

"The Fat of the Land The Story of an American Farm"

"
The credit account for the second quarter of 1898 stood:--
23 calves . . . . . $270.00
Eggs . . . . . . 637.00
Butter . . . . . . 1314.00
Total. . . . . . $2221.00


CHAPTER LXIV
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.


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