THE COMMERCIAL ORCHAKD AND HOW IT CONFRONTS US. 



F. J. Pratt, Humphrey. 



From what we can gather good winter apples grown in any one 

 year have not been enough to go around. It is estimated by our best 

 of authorities that there are not enough good winter apples grown 

 so that every man, woman and child on earth can eat one a month, or 

 twelve a year. The rules of health say that every person should eat at 

 least one apple every day. This means that the present population of 

 the United States should consume 300,000,000 bushels of apples annually. 

 But the average American apple crop is only estimated at 90,000,000 

 hushels (30,000,000 barrels). From this number the United States ex- 

 ported to European countries over 6,000,000 bushels last year being 

 that the wealthy people of Europe paid more for this fruit than the 

 American markets offered. The exportation of the American apple is 

 increasing from year to year and the prices for good winter apples 

 are getting higher every year, as the demand far exceeds the supply. 

 The indications at the present time are that with our increase in popu- 

 lation, that if fruit raising does not increase at a more rapid rate in the 

 future than it has in the past, that it will only be the moneyed class 

 of people and he producer himself that will have fruit, and the middle 

 class or wage eai-ners, will go without. We often hear it said by the 

 inexperienced fruit grower or by the pessimist that Nebraska cannot 

 grow good winter apples. This, however, is a mistake. The old adage 

 is, "The proof of the pudding lies in the eating of it." The writer has 

 just finished eating a Gano and Jonathan from a peck of regular show 

 apples, received from the Humphrey Nurseries' store house, which were 

 grown by Wm. Brockman on a farm four miles south and four miles 

 east of Humphrey. These apples are of the finest quality it has ever 

 been our pleasure to eat. 



Mr. Brockman grew several hundred bushels of apples on his farm 

 this year from a small orchard of only a few trees, among which he 

 grew as fine Jonathans, Gano, Ben Davis and Jenets as can be grown 

 in any state, and he proves his confidence in the apple culture for Ne- 

 braska by placing his O'rder with our nursery here for 250 apple trees 

 to plant next spring. 



Nick Fehringer has been growing apples successfully for many years 

 and had such a volume of a crop this year that he gave neighbors for 

 miles around access to his orchard and still has barrels of cider and 

 vinegar to sell. Mr. Fehringer says it pays big to grow apples here, and 

 placed his order for a large commercial orchard to be planted aext 



