States. The percentage decline of bearing trees for New Hampshire has 

 been smaller than the decline for the United States. This indicates that 

 New Hampshire apple orchards are increasing in average size relative to 

 United States apple orchards. 



The number of non-bearing trees in New Hampshire, however, declined 

 a great deal more between 1940 and 1950 than did the proportionate 

 rmmber of non-bearing trees in the United States. These changes indicate 

 that production in New Hampshire will proliably decline more rapidly in 

 the future relative to the United States. Since no statistics on age dis- 

 tribution of trees in New Hampshire are available, it is difficult to deter- 

 mine when and if the downward turn in production will occur. Much will 

 depend on the current rate of new planting. 



Apples are the most important fruit produced in New Hampshire. Pro- 

 ducers harvest and market between 400,000 and 1,500,000 bushels annually. 

 Apple sales contribute approximately 3.2 percent to the total farm market- 

 ing receipts in the State, ranking sixth in the total amount contributed to 

 agricultural income. 



Although ten New Hampshire counties produce apples, commercial 

 apple production is most highly developed in the southern part of the 

 state. The three major apple producing counties (Hillsborough, Rocking- 

 ham, and ^lerrimack ) contained approximately 77 percent of the total 

 number of trees in 1950. 



I93S 



Figure 2. Average prices received for apples by New Hampshire, New England, 



and United States growers, 1933-53. 



Price Variations 



Apple prices are extremely variable, not only from one season to another, 

 but within the season as well. Average prices received by farmers in the 

 United States have varied from less than $1.00 a bushel in some seasons 



