STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. l6l 



ing in apple orchards an immense tract of 40,000 acres and sell- 

 ing in ten-acre units to investors all over this country and 

 abroad. The published circulars of this company are so allur- 

 ing and the salesmen so enthusiastic over the orchard business 

 that sales have been made much faster than the land can be 

 cleared and planted. Plantings by practical individual growers 

 and close corporation companies with good managers have also 

 been very extensive within the past ten years. In the sections 

 above mentioned, young well-cared-for orchards of from 200 to 

 500 acres are not uncommon. In addition to these heavy eastern 

 plantings, the middle west and the Pacific northwest must also 

 be taken into consideration. In these latter sections there has 

 been unprecedented activity in the planting and development of 

 apple orchards within the past few years. 



This brief review of existing conditions serves to bring prac- 

 tical apple growers face to face with the fact that competition 

 will shortly become keener and marketing problems will become 

 more difficult. Of course not all these vast plantings will ever 

 come into bearing, but the next few years will witness a great 

 increase in the number of bearing trees of the country and we 

 must prepare to meet the conditions. In the coming era of 

 close competition, certain essential points in orcharding should 

 be kept fixed in the grower's mind. There will not be space in 

 this brief paper to enter into the details of the many problems 

 surrounding the apple business from the time the ground is pre- 

 pared and trees planted until the orchard is brought into bear- 

 ing and the fruit placed in the hands of the consumer, so the 

 writer will touch only upon a few vital points relating to the 

 apple industry. 



One important question is that of varieties. Advertising 

 schemes and plans to educate the people to eat more apples are 

 beginning to bring results. But in addition to consuming more 

 fruit, the public is beginning to recognize the fact that all apples 

 are not Baldwins, Northern Spies or even Ben Davis. They 

 begin to realize that some apples are better than others and they^ 

 demand the better varieties. Ten years ago when we made our 

 largest planting of apples, we in common with other growers of 

 the eastern Pan Handle of West Virginia, planted heavily with 

 York Imperial and Ben Davis. We also planted in a more 

 limited way. Grimes Golden and three varieties of summer and 



