The owner went into partnership with a party who receives one-half of the increase of the goats and cattle.
He states that no man will find land that flows with milk and honey now, but that cheap land with a good supply of water offers a great opportunity to a young man with a herd of goats and a little money to run him for a couple of years. In his 1300 acres he had some good land in the valleys where he raises alfalfa and clover.
PLAN No. 806. NEGLECTED ORCHARD PAYS PROFIT
C. F. Mason, of Hickman Mills, Missouri, has made a fortune from a forty acre apple orchard that the neighbors swore could not be made to pay. Up until the time Mr. Mason took hold of its management, this forty acres had never been known to pay more than $200 per year. His profits the first season totaled $2,000; the next year, $2,500; the third season, $8,100, and in the eight seasons he has rented this tract he has banked more than $40,000, in spite of the fact that he had gone up against two pretty disappointing seasons.
Plan No. 806. Plow Deep While Sluggards Sleep
It was 1910 that Mr. Mason quit the trail of the grip to rent this forty-acre orchard. When he went to the owner and asked if he could rent it, they were delighted, for they thought they had discovered a new brand of fool who was willing to part with his time and money. Mr. Mason made his own terms the first year; since then he has made so much profit with the orchard that the owners have been very fair in their terms, since he had converted a millstone into a bank.
The second day after the contract was signed the renter with a force of men went into the orchard, consisting of fifteen-year-old trees, and the battle for a crop started. The trees were then in bloom and the work had to be done in quick order. It was. The first year the profit of $2,000 permitted the back-to-the-lander to purchase equipment needed to handle the orchard along practical lines.
The topnotch production was reached in 1912, when more than 15,000 bushels were harvested, selling for $8,100. More apples were sold from the orchard in 1918. In 1914, due to drought, the crop was reduced to about 9,500 bushels, which sold for $6,000.