100 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE WAK AND THE HOKTICULTURIST. 



BY C. T. HAYES, CASTII,E, N. Y. 



At the present time in tliis conntrv nearly every storage is fnll to over 

 flowing Avitli a])ples. At tlie beginning of tlie season it was wondered Ivy 

 many wliere all of tlie cro]> conld be disjiosed of. We have 70.000.000 

 bbls. of apples here to be eaten this year, for frnit unlike grain has to be 

 consumed from one han^st to the next. But just what does 70,000,000 

 bblsi. of apples mean? It means that every soldier in every army of the 

 waring nations of lilurope could have over three bbls. to eat. Tt means 

 that if all ilie crop were bbld. and i)laced in box cars, and these cars 

 were coupled into a single train, and that if this train were run by the 

 M. 0. station here at 30 mi. per hour, that we would have to stand on 

 the platform for five days, twenty-four hours a day, before all of the 

 harvest Avould go past, and this train would be so long that it would 

 reach from here to San Fiancisco, and then out into the Pacific Ocean 

 nearly half way to Honolulu. 



Now Avhat become of all these apples? We find that Eurojie has taken 

 over two milion bbls. a year, that South America, Asia, and Alaska have 

 each taken a much smaller number, and that the jveople of this country 

 have consumed the rest. But by comparing the sale of last years fruit 

 with that of this Ave find that our home market is becoming over snjt- 

 ]»lied. Then in order that the price ])aid for apples be kei)t up we must 

 look to foreign countries to take our suplus. This is especially so Avlien 

 we consider the great number of new orchards that are bearing every 

 year. Now here lies a significant fact, namely that all of the foreign ship- 

 ments are made from high grade fruit. 



At ])resent Europe is engaged in a great war, and as a resmlt shi])i>ing 

 facilities are greatly demoralized. Then what are we going to do with 

 these two milion bbls. of high grade fruit this year? In spite of this war 

 and the poor shii)])ing facilities resulting, this country has averaged over 

 18,000 bbls. a week more a])]>les to l"]urope than last year, and fi'om San 

 Fransiisco an almost entirely new market has been developed in South 

 America amounting to from 10 to 1(>,000 boxes of apples on every steam- 

 er. At the same time Seattle is shipping more apples to Alaska than ever 

 before in her history. 



Thus we see that for high grade fruit at least the market is very active 

 as is evidenced in both Chicago and New York, where apples are moving 

 very fast considering that this marks one of the large apple years of the 

 conntrv. Thus it is easilv seen that while this war is being fought that 

 our foreign shipments of fniit are ever increasing. 



Now let us consider what we are going to do with the supply of apples 

 from the new orchards. The saddest result of the war next to the loss of 

 life, and the destruction of the beautiful buildings, is the devastation of 

 the historic orchards of Belgium and of France, and if this war is car- 

 ried onto (Jcrman soil, as it probably Avill be, the destruction of the 

 orchards there. But throwing aside the sad part of this, let us consider 



