APPLE GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



STATISTICS. 



There is no more cosmopolitan fruit among the long list grown, 

 than the apple. It adapts itself to the cold climates of the north as well 

 as to the more temperate regions farther south. Practically every state 

 in the Union boasts of some places where apples can be produced, and as 

 far north on the continent as British Columbia we lind them doing 

 remarkably well. The climate and soil in many parts of California are 

 admirably suited to the Crowing of this fruit. Prof. E. J. "Wiekson, in 

 his * ( 'alifomia Fruits, " divides the state into five regions, viz: northern 

 const region, central coast region, interior valleys and foothills, moun- 

 tain valleys and plateaus, and southern California, and gives a long 

 list of varieties that are adapted to the diversified conditions of these 

 regions. The central coast region has so far produced a very great part 

 of the state's output of apples, in fact is the only region which has taken 

 u p apple orcharding on a large scale. With splendid transportation 

 facilities and with conditions of soil and climate such that certain 

 varieties have done well, Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties, despite their 

 low elevation and frequent fogs, have produced Yellow Bellflowers, 

 Yellow Xewtowns and Uravensteins. that have made them famous. The 

 northern coast region, including within its borders Mendocino and 

 Ilumboldt counties, is fast coming to the front, and the vast region 

 classified under the name of "mountain valleys and plateaus" contains 

 an abundance of land upon which apples of superior quality can be 

 grown. From an elevation of about 2,000 to 6,000 feet along the Sierra 

 Nevada ran ire may be seen orchards and remnants of orchards in prac- 

 tically all of the counties which extend into these mountains. Fig. 1 

 shows an orchard at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. Transportation 

 facilities are not such at present as to favor these sections, and since the 

 markets are well supplied with shipments from AVatsonvillc and other 

 railroad points, the pioneer orchardists of the mountains have been 

 forced to irive up their practice of hauling the crop a long distance and 

 the orchards no longer paying are neglected. Many splendid trees in 

 some of these old remnants of orchards may still be seen, indicative of 

 the possibilities of apple culture in the mountainous parts of the state. 



The economic value of the apple is probably greater than that of any 

 other fruit. Its cosmopolitan nature has made it a favorite for planting. 

 and its food value is such as to make it prized above all our fruits. The 

 cry of overproduction has rmm in our ears until we wonder sometimes 

 that any one has the nerve to 1:0 into the business. I)e>pite this cry there 

 \8 xiill ;( -(MM! profit to b made from the well cared for on-hard of good 

 varieties, well grown and packed. The apple business of the future 

 must go to those sections where the fruit can be produced best, for small, 

 irnarly apples will not pay for the expense of growing them, while the 



