CHAPTER IX 



HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS 



*T^HE twelfth census of the United States, 

 -*- of the year 1900, was the first one in the 

 history of the country in which an effort was 

 made to obtain definite reports of the value of 

 fruits grown in the United States. During 

 nearly two centuries and a-half fruit-growing 

 had been largely a matter of the individual, 

 never commanding enough, in a commercial 

 way, to warrant national recognition. 



The development of the fruit industry, how- 

 ever, in the period of which this book treats, 

 had been so rapid that the government took 

 large pains in this census properly to show the 

 extent and importance of this new factor in 

 national life. Fruits had been grown from the 

 beginning. Indeed, in that far day when Norse 

 Lief, son of Eric, made his memorable voyage 

 to the new world, in the year 1000, it was the 

 abundance of grapes which he found growing 

 wild that caused him to name the region Vine- 



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