14 The Apples of New York. 



sprays was introduced in the decade from 1885 to 1895. The 

 demonstration that by combined treatment with fungicides and 

 insecticides some of the most destructive enemies of the apple might 

 be profitably kept under control put the business of growing apples 

 upon a more stable basis than ever before. In the decade from 

 1890 to 1900 notable improvements in the methods of orchard man- 

 agement in matters of tillage and cover crops came into vogue 

 among progressive commercial orchardists. During the same period 

 the facilities for holding apples both in common storage and in cold 

 storage were greatly increased.^ The export trade developed more 

 extensively, giving steadier markets for the better grades of fresh 

 fruit and also of evaporated apples.- and the business of canning 

 apples assumed considerable importance. 



' Powell in the Yearbook of U. S. Dept. of Agric. 1903: 228 gives statistics furnished by 

 the International Apple Shippers' Association showing the number of barrels held in cold 

 storage in the United States about December 1 of each year since 1898: 



Apples in storage about December i of each year from 1898 to 1903. 



Barrels. 



1898 800,000 



1899 1,518,750 



1900 1,226,900 



Barrels. 



1901 1,771,200 



1902 2,978,050 



1903 2,348,540 



* The annual export of apples and dried apples from the United States for the years 

 1891 to 1903 inclusive is shown in the following table: 



Year. 



1893 



1894 



189s 



1896 



1897 1,503 



1899 



1900 



1901 



1902 



1903 1,656,129 



In that section of the Lake Ontario apple belt which is included in Wayne county prob- 

 ably a larger proportion of the apple crop has been made into dried apples than in any 

 other section of the state. Wayne county contains 9 townships. Its total area is 624 

 square miles. On some farms the entire product of the orchard is put through the evapo- 

 rator, none of the fruit being sold green. In one township, Sodus, there were in 1896 

 about 400 evaporators. In 1896 Wayne county marketed about 5,000,000 bushels of green 

 apples. In that year about 1500 carloads of evaporated apples were shipped out of the 

 county, representing about 5,250,000 bushels of green apples. Mr. E. S. Johnson of 

 Wolcott who supplied the above information also stated that Wolcott for the decade ending 

 in 1896 received an average of $250,000 per annum for its output of evaporated apples. 

 This fruit came from within a radius of 6 to 10 miles of the railroad station. The 

 average price to growers for the same period was estimated at 6i cents to 7 cents 

 per pound. The prices were sometimes as low as from 3 to 3J cents and sometimes 

 reached as high as 12 cents to 13 cents. 



