average yield. In the United States, we produce 

 about one bushel for every person. In China, 

 production is about one bushel for every five 

 people. Because living standards are improving 

 very rapidly in China, there is a potential mar- 

 ket for firuit appearing from either a major 

 increase in Chinese apple production or mcgor 

 importation of apples fi:t)m abroad. The most 

 popular cxiltivars in China are DeUdous and 

 Golden Delicious and more recently Fuji and 

 "Red Snake." 



Presently, most orchards are owned by com- 

 mimes. Each family in the commune is entitled 

 to lease about three acres of land firom the 

 commime and farm it in any way the family sees 

 fit. The family can keep whatever it earns. All 

 the trees that we saw were dwarf or semi-dwarf. 

 One of the fascinating things to us was that 

 every 20 rows or so were managed by a different 

 family and often in a different way. So your 

 immediate neighbor's horticultural practices 

 could have a very strong influence on your crop, 

 for better or for worse. 



Another fascinating thing was the absence 

 of £my vegetation whatsoever beneath the trees 

 but the lush vegetation of other crops grown in 

 the allesrways between rows. These crops in- 

 cluded peanuts, cotton, strawberries, melons, 

 com, and several others. All vegetation beneath 

 trees was removed by stout Chinese hoes in 

 order to reduce the drain of vegetation on water 

 and nutrients. We wondered how it was fmssible 

 to run tractors and sprayers down the allejrways 

 without crushing the other crops. The answer 

 was: tractors and motorized sprayers are few 

 and far between. Nearly all the sprajdng is done 

 by attaching a hose 30 yards or so in length to an 

 outlet fi*om an imderground pipe that supplies 

 the spray mixtvire fi-om a central mixing point. 

 The farmer simply sprays all trees within reach 

 of the hose before picking up and moving on to 

 the next attachment site. Some sprajdng is also 

 done with backpack sprayers and "bucket- 

 pumps." In this way there is no harm to crops in 

 the alleyways (other than pesticide drift). Most 

 applicators did not seem concerned about poten- 

 tial dangers fi*om pesticide. They wore no gloves, 

 masks or other protection, much the way it was 

 in the United States in the 1940's! 



Nearly all of the 20 or so orchards that we 



saw were maintained in excellent condition. 

 Tree structure was particularly good, generally 

 better than the average Massachusetts block of 

 dwarf trees. It w£is mainly based on a three- 

 tiered, central-leader tree pruning and Umb 

 training system. Advice on tree planting, tree 

 training, fertiUzation, and pest control is given 

 to all apple-growing members of a commune at 

 least four times a year through visits by exten- 

 sion pomologists from the Division of Fruit and 

 Forestry. We were told that the average family 

 sprays about eight times a year, mainly against 

 mites, aphids, moth larvae, powdery mildew, 

 scab, and canker. From our perspective, tree 

 foUar growth was very lush (probably too lush). 

 So it was not siuprising that mites and aphids 

 took a strong liking to it. Maybe the lack of 

 competition for nutrients in the absence of 

 understory plants was too much of a good thing. 

 The high upright growth of many trees was at 

 least partly due to the common practice of t)dng 

 branches down to horizontal or below horizontal 

 positions, which then results in unnecessary 

 uprights. There was a great deal of interest in 

 biological control of mites and aphids but less 

 progress on this area than we ex{)ected. 



We wondered how apples were stored and 

 sold aRer harvest. It turns out that cold storage 

 does not exist to any appreciable extent. The 

 fi-uit are trucked by the buyer to the local mar- 

 kets for immediate consumption. The storages 

 that do exist are mostly in undergroimd cellars 

 or in above-ground clay structures that are 

 periodicedly hosed with water for cooling. 



Of all the many surprising things we encoun- 

 tered, perhaps the most siurprising of all was the 

 intent interest by the governor of a coimty of 

 about two million people in the possibility of 

 making applejuiceorcider. She questioned us at 

 length about how cider was made in the United 

 States. It seems that apples have never been 

 iised in this way in China. She said that her 

 people would love to have apple cider if they 

 knew a good way to make it. What an opportu- 

 nity for marketing low cost hand-operated cider 

 presses. 



We were treated royally with unexcelled 

 hospitality (including 35-course Ivmches) wher- 

 ever we went. It was indeed an eye-opening, 

 unforgettable experience. 



Fruit Notes, Spring, 1993 



