194 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Dr. Funk presented his paper which is as follows: 

 COMMERCIAL OECHARDING. 



By DR. J. H. FUNK, Boijertown, Pa. 



On seeing this heading, the first impression is, that it means a 

 large apple orchard planted for commercial purposes. Yet it may 

 just as reasonably mean a peach, pear, cherry, or plum orchard, as 

 all of these are planted on a very large scale, covering hundreds, 

 of acres, and are therefore classed as commercial orchards. Either" 

 of these might be called an apple orchard, without having a single 

 apple tree in them, as the term apple means fruit in general, espe- 

 cially all that of a round form. 



That king of fruit, the apple of our day, belongs to the genus 

 Pyrus Malus. It is supposed to have its origin inEurope. Pliny 

 mentions twenty-nine varieties of apples being cultivated in Italy 

 about the beginning of the Christian Era. It is doubtful if one of 

 these varieties exist at the present time. They have disappeared, 

 and are superceded by newer sorts, of higher merits. Evolution, 

 constant change, is the law of nature. In this country the majority 

 of our choicest fruits have originated by chance, by the accidental 

 crosses of good varieties, by the intervention of insects, the honey- 

 bee being one of the great factors in cross-polinization. To this 

 industrious little friend do we owe a debt of gratitude for its in- 

 strumentality in giving us many of our choicest and most delicious 

 fruits, as well as the thousands of beautiful flowers, with their 

 bright tints and sweet perfume, rendering our homes a paradise. 



The apple, though introduced into America from Europe, has gone 

 through so many changes that the majority of our cultivated varie- 

 ties to-day are of home origin, showing that our seedlings, grown 

 and acclimated in America, are much better suited to our condi- 

 tions than are those introduced from other countries. 



The adaptation of varieties to location is of great importance. 

 Of the hundreds of varieties of American origin which are grown 

 in the United States, but very few are found in the commercial 

 orchards of any one State. 



Varieties that are commercially most valuable in the New Eng- 

 land states are not profitable in Pennsylvania; and many of those 

 of Pennsylvania are worthless in Arkansas. The Wealthy which 

 is a fine winter apple in Minnesota, is a very poor summer apple 

 below latitude 40 degrees. Just now numerous varieties of apples 

 and other fruits are coming rapidly into existence, and many of 

 them very valuable to the localities where they originated. These 

 facts have given great impetus to the intelligent breeding of varie- 

 ties and the selection of bud variation that show particular adap- 

 tability to any given locality. The individual intending to plant 

 a commercial orchard should bear this in mind, that all fruits 

 mature earlier by moving them southward, and later by planting 

 them farther north. If he lives in latitude 40 degrees, he cannot 

 profitably plant Baldwin, Greening, Northern Spy, and such varie- 

 ties especially adapted to latitude 42 degrees; but he can safely 



