A careful investigation made in 1898 of the value of certain productions taken from farms in New York State shows that the culture of apples is very profitable.  From twenty adjoining farms in one neighborhood in western New York, the report gave an average annual return of $85 per acre at the orchard, covering a period of five years.  Another report gave an average of $110 annual income per acre for three years, and these results were obtained where only ordinary care was given to the orchard.  But note this.—­

One orchard, where the trees had been well sprayed to protect the fruit from insect injuries, and the soil well cultivated and properly fertilized, gave a return in one year of $700 per acre, and for three years an average income of $400 per acre.

One man bought a farm of 100 acres in Central New York with a much-neglected orchard upon it of 30 acres, paying $5000 for the whole.  He cultivated the orchard, pruned and sprayed the trees thoroughly, and in seven months from the time he purchased the farm, sold the apple crop from it for $6000 cash.

“Peanuts:  Culture and Uses,” by R. B. Handy in Farmers’ Bulletin No. 25 of the United States Department of Agriculture says: 

“According to the Census the average yield of peanuts in the United States was 17.6 bushels per acre, the average in Virginia being about 20, and in Tennessee 32 bushels per acre.  This appears to be a low average, especially as official and semiofficial figures give 50 to 60 bushels as an average crop, and 100 bushels is not an uncommon yield.  Fair peanut land properly manured and treated to intelligent rotation of crops should produce in an ordinary season a yield of 50 bushels to the acre and from 1 to 2 tons of excellent hay. (Of course better land with more liberal treatment and a favorable season will produce heavier crops, the reverse being true of lands which have been frequently planted with peanuts without either manuring or rotation of crops.) Besides the amount of peanuts gathered, there are always large quantities left in the ground which have escaped the gathering, and on these the planter turns his herd of hogs, so that there is no waste of any part of the plant.”

Tobacco is a paying crop if the soil is just right.  Two thousand pounds per acre can be raised on favorable sites.  Connecticut tobacco brings, in ordinary times, from twenty to thirty cents a pound; from four to over six hundred dollars being the possible return.

Some Connecticut soils raise Sumatra tobacco equal to the imported crop that sells in this country at fancy prices.  The Department of Agriculture claims that the Cuban type of tobacco can be closely approximated in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  But it must be remembered that the soil is of paramount importance in tobacco raising.  The Department has prepared soil maps of most of the important tobacco districts of the United States.  If you think your land may be suited to tobacco, apply there for information.  You may make your land invaluable.