326 



APPLE 



APPLE 



Status of the apple industry in the mid-continental states. 



Wisconsin. Apples are grown mostly in small 

 plantings about homesteads. The crop is important 

 chiefly in supplying the home and the local markets 

 with summer and fall fruit. The varieties are those of 

 the Wealthy belt. 



Minnesota. Apple-growing is chiefly confined to the 

 southeastern quarter of the state, although crab-apples 

 and the very hardiest apples are being planted in other 

 sections. From Minneapolis southward to the Iowa 

 line, many farm orchards are found and some com- 

 mercial plantings. Heretofore, these have seldom pro- 

 duced enough fruit to supply the local demand at any 

 time and then for a brief period only. However, apple- 

 production is gradually increasing in the state and 

 apple-planting is being slowly extended. It will doubt- 

 less assume greater proportions as late-keeping varie- 

 ties are developed which are hardy and desirable. 



North Dakota. This state raises but very few apples 

 or crab-apples and those only of the kinds most resistant 

 to cold and drought. It ranks next to the bottom of 

 the list in apple-production among the states of the 

 Union. 



South Dakota. Apples are produced in very limited 

 quantities and chiefly near the Missouri River in the 

 southeast corner of the state and in the Black Hills 

 district. The varieties are those of the northern section 

 of the Wealthy belt. The recommended list of the State 

 Horticultural Society includes: Northern District- 

 first degree of hardiness Hibernal, Oldenburg 

 (Duchess) ; second degree of hardiness Patten (Green- 

 ing), Anisim, Wealthy. Southern District in addition 

 to the above Northwestern Greening, Malinda, and, 

 in favorable locations, Ben Davis. Planting increases 

 slowly. 



Nebraska. Apples are grown in the eastern third of 

 the state and under irrigation in some places farther 

 west. It has some important commercial orchards, the 

 majority of them being in the southeastern part of the 

 state and within three counties of the Missouri River. 

 The northern third of the state grows the varieties com- 

 mon to the Wealthy belt. In the southern two-thirds 

 are grown the Ben Davis and its kin and also Winesap, 

 Grimes, Arkansas or Mammoth Black Twig, Jonathan, 

 Missouri (Pippin), Willow (Twig) and others of the Ben 

 Davis associates. Planting is not active, but growers are 

 beginning to take a more lively interest in modern 

 methods of orchard management. 



Iowa. In the amount of crop produced, Iowa was 

 ranked sixth in the Union by the 1910 census, but often 

 it drops as low as the eighteenth or nineteenth place. 

 The greater proportion of the crop is grown in home 

 orchards and goes to supply home and local market 

 demands, but in the aggregate there is a considerable 

 number of commercial orchards. These are found in 

 all parts of the state. They are sparsely scattered in 

 the north and gradually increase in number to the 

 southward, being most abundant in the south tier of 

 counties. The most important commercial apple dis- 

 trict includes the counties bordering the Missouri 

 River in southwestern Iowa. Here Grimes and Jonathan 

 of superior quality are grown. Northern Iowa grows the 

 varieties of the Wealthy belt. The southern Iowa list 

 is almost identical with that given for southeastern 

 Nebraska. Planting is not active. Modern methods 

 of management are being adopted by a few of the more 

 progressive growers but most orchards suffer from 

 neglect. 



Illinois. At present, Illinois takes second rank in 

 'apple-production among the mid-continental states, 

 being surpassed by Missouri only. Northern Illinois, 

 like Wisconsin, grows apples chiefly for home use and 

 the varieties are those of the southern area of the 

 Wealthy belt. Central and southern Illinois contain 

 altogether many large commercial apple orchards. In 



good-crop years, they produce in the aggregate large 

 quantities of winter apples, including Ben Davis, Blaek 

 Ben Davis, Gano, Arkansas or Mammoth Black Twig, 

 Winesap, Jonathan, Grimes, Missouri, Willow, Rails, 

 and several other varieties commonly found in the 

 Ben Davis belt. Winter injury and late spring 

 freezes have often seriously diminished the general 

 crop. Injurious insects together with blight, cankers, 

 bitter-rot, blotch, scab and other diseases, have also 

 caused great losses. Clean tillage and other up-to-date 

 orchard methods would doubtless be more generally 

 practised if crops were more reliable. Planting is not 

 very active, although the number of trees of bearing 

 age is gradually increasing. 



Missouri. The 1900 census gave Missouri ninth 

 rank and the 1910 census gave it fourth rank in apple- 

 production, but it often falls as low as the sixteenth 

 place among the states of the Union. On the whole, 

 it may be regarded as the leading apple state of the mid- 

 continental region. Apples are very generally grown 

 for home use and local market throughout Missouri, but 

 the more important commercial apple districts are in 

 the Ozark country of southwest Missouri and the loess 

 soil region along the Missouri River in the northwest 

 quarter of the state. The apple industry in Missouri 

 has been retarded by troubles similar to those described 

 for Illinois, but undoubted progress is being made in 

 knowledge of the methods for holding them under 

 control. 



Arkansas. The apple districts of Arkansas are 

 mostly located in the northwest third of the state, 

 particularly in the two northwest counties of Benton 

 and Washington, which have from four to five million 

 trees planted. There is also an undeveloped west- 

 central region. The older plantings include about 90 

 per cent Ben Davis, Arkansas or Mammoth Black 

 Twig, and Winesap. The later plantings are made up 

 principally of Gano, Black Ben Davis, Jonathan, 

 Grimes, Winesap, Stayman Winesap, with some 

 Ingram, Collins, King David, and Delicious. Arkansas 

 has enough apple trees of bearing age to produce a very 

 large crop, but as in Missouri and Illinois, within recent 

 years unfavorable climatic conditions with diseases and 

 injurious insects have proved a rather serious handicap 

 to the progress of the apple industry. Generally speak- 

 ing, planting is not now being rapidly extended. The 

 planting of thousands or even hundreds of acres under 

 one management is fortunately no longer generally 

 regarded with favor, and the trend is distinctly towards 

 reducing the individual holdings to a size that is com- 

 patible with careful and thorough orchard management. 

 The future will see a large development of commercial 

 apple-growing in this region. 



Kansas. Northeastern Kansas from Topeka north- 

 ward to the Nebraska line and northeastward to the 

 Missouri River forms a part of an important apple- 

 growing region which takes in southeastern Nebraska, 

 southwestern Iowa, and northwestern Missouri. Here 

 Jonathan and Grimes are grown to a high degree of 

 perfection, together with Ben Davis, Gano, Wraeeap, 

 and other varieties of the Ben Davis belt. There is 

 another important apple district which is located in 

 the Arkansas Valley from Hutchinson to the Oklahoma 

 line. In recent years, this has taken the lead in crop- 

 production in this state. The older Kansas orchards 

 were largely of Ben Davis, Gano, and Missouri. The 

 newer plantings have more of York Imperial, Jona- 

 than and Grimes. Other varieties common to the Ben 

 Davis belt are also found. 



Oklahoma and northwest Texas. In Oklahoma, the 

 apple has not yet developed very large commercial 

 importance. Planting is gradually increasing in the 

 Red River section and also in west Texas when 1 the 

 altitude reaches 2,000 feet. Here Ben Davis, Missouri 

 and Arkansas Black are among the most important 

 commercial varieties. 



