Border Cook

Chapter 262 Orchard
Unless someone has been dealing with farmland for a long time, most people do not have a strong concept of the size of a field. In fact, reporting a budget is the quickest way, which allows the farm agent to find recommendations for them accurately and quickly.

"I have seven hundred taels of silver on hand right now." Xia Mingyue said.

Because the business expanded faster than she had imagined, Xia Mingyue earned more money than expected. At this time, she had nearly nine hundred taels of silver in her hands, but considering that she had to keep some for emergencies, Xia Mingyue decided to take out seven hundred taels of silver after weighing the pros and cons.

"At this time, the price of good farmland is about 12 taels per mu, ordinary farmland is 10 taels, and the worse ones are 70 or 8 taels. If Madam Xia uses the 700 taels of silver to buy good farmland, it will only be about 50 mu, which is not too big or too small. You also need to find someone to take care of it and rent it out. The annual income is probably not as high as you think."

Manager Tang explained, "Moreover, these fifty acres of land are not enough to form a farm on their own. If they are combined with other farms and managed by others, they will have to follow other people's rules, which will be more troublesome. If they are rented out to farmers separately, it will also be time-consuming and labor-intensive."

"Madam Xia, are you interested in buying an orchard? I have a new orchard here. Although it is a little remote, it is large in area, about 120 to 130 acres. The fruit trees there are ready-made and will bear fruit this year."

"The previous owner of this orchard was in a hurry to sell it, so the price he asked for was not high, only 750 taels. If Madam Xia wants it, she can lower the price further."

Orchard.

Xia Mingyue lowered her eyes and thought.

Most of the orchards are remote, and the fruits cannot be eaten directly but need to be exchanged for money. Therefore, most of them cannot be rented to tenants. The people have to manage them themselves and hire people to plant the fruits.

However, the storage time of fruit is limited, the selling price is not stable every year, and the income is naturally unstable, so most business people do not invest in orchards.

Therefore, many orchards are just the property of wealthy families, who provide their families with fresh fruits for them to enjoy and avoid waste.

But if she bought the orchard...

Xia Mingyue raised her eyelids and asked carefully, "What kind of fruit trees are there in this orchard?"

"They are mainly apple and pear trees, and some grapes. The apples and pears are of average quality, but they produce a lot. As for the grapes, I have tasted them before. They are big and sweet. They are really delicious."

Seeing Xia Mingyue's interest, Manager Tang hurriedly introduced it in more detail, "The original house in this orchard was for the workers and the manager to live in. It has all the necessary things, even the indentures of the managers and the workers. The seller said that he can give them together."

"Originally the seller did not want to sell the orchard. He just wanted to settle down in the capital. He was worried that he did not have enough cash, so he wanted to sell some of the property as soon as possible."

"My boss has checked the title deed. It is very complete and there is no dispute. You can buy it with confidence. If you are interested, Madam Xia, the brokerage firm can send a car to take you over to take a look."

"to make."

Xia Mingyue was quite interested in this orchard, so she made an appointment with Manager Tang to visit it the next day.

The orchard is about two hours away from the county town. You can go there after breakfast, take a stroll and come back in the afternoon, so you have plenty of time.

The next morning, the pawnshop's carriage came to Xia Mingyue's home to pick her up, accompanied by Steward Tang.

Xia Mingyue and Lu went there together.

Also traveling with them was Wu Jin.

After a whole winter of fattening, Wu Jin had gained weight again. Xia Mingyue felt that it was not good for its health and that it needed to go out for a run and have some fun.

Wu Jin was overjoyed. Just like when he went to Xiaohe Village before, he sat obediently in the front of the carriage, opened his mouth wide and drank the wind.

Manager Tang and the coachman also liked Wu Jin, who was so well-behaved, strong and likable.

The driver was particularly curious about Wu Jin, and wanted to have some with him along the way. However, Wu Jin was friendly to strangers, but not very friendly, which made the driver curious about him even more. He even said something seductive, "Wu Jin, how about you come home with me? I'll give you meat and bones to eat every day."

Meat and bones are not rare!
Wu Jin turned his head away, his face full of disdain.

Steward Tang on the side chuckled and said, "What's the matter? Do you still want to compete with Madam Xia in craftsmanship?"

Wu Jin is so well-fed, and it is obvious that he is taken care of very carefully. Ordinary people cannot compare with him.

"That's true." The driver laughed.

Although he understood it in his heart, his gaze was still fixed on Wu Jin.

It's good to take a few more glances.

Xia Mingyue and Lu sat in the carriage, occasionally lifting the curtain to look at the scenery on both sides and identify the route to the orchard.

The orchard is located west-southwest of Jinqiu County. We followed the official road, passed a town and several villages, and arrived safely when the sun was about to rise to its zenith.

The carriage stopped in front of the house built in the orchard, and the person who came out to greet them was the orchard's manager, Guo Kanglai.

Guo Kanglai was in his thirties, tall and thin. His clothes were a little pale from washing, but he was dressed neatly and looked like a very capable man.

Guo Kanglai had already received the letter from the pawnshop. He knew that the visitors were here to look after the orchard, so he greeted them warmly, "Hello, Manager Tang, Hello, Madam Xia, Hello, Madam Lu."

"Hello, Manager Guo." Xia Mingyue bowed. "Please give us an overview of the orchard and show us around."

"Yes." Guo Kanglai bowed and led Xia Mingyue and others into the garden while introducing the specific situation of the orchard.

The orchard has a total area of ​​126 acres, including 40 acres of apple trees, 30 acres of pear trees, 20 acres of peach trees, and 15 acres of grapes. The rest has been cultivated into vegetable fields and farmland.

The vegetable garden is used to grow daily vegetables, while the fields are used to grow wheat in autumn and corn, soybeans, peanuts and the like in summer for people in the orchard to eat on weekdays.

There are springs on the mountains and small rivers on the slopes, so using water is very convenient. It's a pity that the slopes cannot store too much water. The harvests from grain and vegetable fields are average, but the harvest from fruit trees is okay.

Now, in addition to Guo Kanglai, there are six households with a total of 18 people in the orchard, all of whom are under life indentures.

Xia Mingyue took a rough look around and saw that the land was not barren. Various fruit trees were growing well, and the branches and twigs were trimmed very well. It was obvious that Guo Kanglai and others were usually diligent and took good care of the land.

And after this tour and through the conversation with Guo Kanglai, I can also see that Manager Guo is a person who is organized, independent-minded, and able to do his work with all his heart and soul.

The house has a small courtyard for the owner to live in and entertain guests. The courtyard and the house are both clean and tidy, and lunch is eaten in this small courtyard.

Stir-fried bean sprouts, spinach vermicelli, stewed chicken, fried tofu, the staple food is white flour buns, and the soup is millet broth.

The cooking skills of the chef are limited, and not all the seasonings are used in the cooking, but the food is fresh, and the water used is mountain spring water, so it tastes light and delicious.

Regarding the matching of acres and number of workers, in ancient times, because there was no chemical fertilizer, the land was much poorer than it is today. Grain and fruit trees were planted very sparsely and the yield was very limited, so the daily workload was also different from that of today.

The author has checked the data. For example, if a modern wheat field is cut with a sickle, a strong laborer with a fast hand speed can only cut about 6 to 7 acres a day. However, the crops in ancient times were too sparse, and a strong laborer could only cut two or three acres a day. Therefore, the workload today cannot be compared with that in ancient times.