116 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Apple Orchards in Southern Michigan. 



Counties. 



Monroe 



Lenawee . . . 

 Hillsdale... 



Branch 



St. Joseph.. 



Cass 



Berrien 



Total.. 



"Wayne 



Washtenaw 

 Jackson — 



Calhoun 



Kalamazoo. 

 Van Buren. 



Total.. 



Macomb 



Oakland 



Livingston. 



Ingham 



Eaton 



Barry 



Allegan — 



Total. 



Acreage 

 in 1880. 



7,284 

 10,541 



7,238 

 4,978 

 5,798 

 10,871 



56,220 



Acreage 

 in 1900. 



2,785 

 5,880 

 4,772 

 4,148 

 2,483 

 3,1.53 

 7,510 



30,731 



Loss 46 per cent. 



5,836 

 9,227 

 8,131 

 G,713 

 6,298 

 7,916 



4,336 

 5,098 

 4,177 

 4,129 

 2,645 

 6,075 



44,121 



26,460 



Loss 40 per cent. 



5,665 



11,021 



6,544 



6,282 

 6,821 

 5,009 

 7,690 



4,316 



8,368 

 4,040 

 5,375 

 5,681 

 4,365 

 6,983 



49,042 



39,128 



Loss 20 per cent. 



It will be noticed that, although there were hundreds of thousands 

 of trees planted during the twenty years between 1880 and 1900, there 

 was a decrease in the acreage of apple orchards in the southern tier of 

 counties of 46 per cent; the second tier of counties shows a loss of 

 but 40 per cent. As we go farther north, where the country was opened 

 up at a later date and the orchards are younger, the decrease is less. In 

 the third tier of counties the loss is but 20 per cent. In the counties yet 

 farther north the planting is still going on rapidly. Thus while Newaygo 

 county had but 1,587 acres in 1880, the acreage had increased by 1900 to 

 2,174, or about the same per cent of gain as was the loss in the southern 

 counties. 



The yield of the orchards at the above periods cannot be stated defi- 

 nitely, owing to a change in the method of reporting the crop, the amount 

 sold being formerly given while now the total crop is reported. Allow- 

 ance must also be made for the difference in yield from year to year, but 

 to show in a general way that there has been a considerable reduction in 

 the yield of the orchards of southern Michigan, it may be stated that 

 in 1880 the number of bushels marketed in Hillsdale county, after pro- 

 viding for home consumption, was 265,000, while for the three years 

 previous to 1900 the eiitire crop averaged but 86,000. The same loss is 

 found in Lenawee county where the corresponding figures are 305.000 and 

 113,000. After making allowance for the amount required for home 



