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Anyway this trend is in line with the determination of apple growers to g et Macs to 

 consumers in the best possible condition - and that's all to the good. 



And, by the w^/, Macs are getting around this year, probably as never before. 

 It's an ill wind that blows no one any good - so the shorter supplies of apples in 

 tile Appalachian country have made it possible for us to get into their markets more 

 strongly than ever , A recent note from Connecticut tells of perked up interest in 

 out-of~state shipments from their gro'wers, much in line with the trend herein Massa- 

 chusetts, 



In this regard I have just noticed a summary of apple receipte in Nevf York 

 City for the latest month reported (December) during which receipts from Virginia 

 totaled only k car lot equivalents compared with U8 in December of the pre^us year, 

 Pennsylvania had shipped only lb car lots compared m th U6 a year earlier ; and "West 

 Virginia none against g cars in the same month the year befcre. 



Speaking of Pennsylvania, an elaborate report on a survey recently conducted 

 dovm there gives some revealing facts on the reduction Li apple trees in that state. 

 It shov;s that over the 20-year period, 1929-19h9 , the number of apple trees in Penn- 

 sylvania was reduced from 7,8 millions to 3,5 millions, a reduction of 55/^'. The 

 number of orchards decreased at about the same rate, 53/^» They probably are getting 

 dovm to what is often referred to as a "healthy" condition, as we are up here in New 

 England, At the present time they have quite a little young stuff coming along, in 

 19^3 some 30^ of their trees not having reached bearing age. About 2^% are 30 years 

 old or over. 



So this offers additional confirmation of the belief (it's more than a hope) 

 that our apple industry has turned the corner from the dark days of the past decade 

 or two, and that better things are ahead . 



Something for us to view with pride in present trends is the outstanding posi- 

 tion reached by our favorite Mcintosh in the national standing . This year, as you 

 may have noted, the Mac is a strong No, 2 in the nation , vath a production of 

 12,105,000 bushels being exceeded only by Delicious, with 21,081,000. A few others 

 in order of ranking are: V^inesap, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, Stayma'j, Yellow Newtoim, 

 Rhode Island Greening, York Imperial, Baldwin is farther down the list. The surpri- 

 sing thing is in fact that Greenings hold up so well. Of course, they are practically 

 all in New York State, but they still make quite a showing, 



I trust that you have noted the Piper variety in that list - Golden Delicious , 

 I am getting to be knovim as the Golden Delicious man, and I think I have some good 

 company among apple growers. And that reminds me that I have a box tucked avray up 

 at Jack Lord's Cold Storage in Y^est Concord, a box from my ever faithful friend, Don 

 Priest, so I better sign off here and pick up my apples. 



One thing more, I've been noticing the heavy sucker grov/th on these new low 

 apple trees this vrirrter. In the spring they looked avirful good ~ and on the apple 

 bus tours I pointea "out to our city visitors how our grov/ers were adopting a new 

 method. Now I am wondering hovr far this will go. The motor car manufacturers have 

 carried it to extremes — so pe rhaps we are headed for the day vihen we can have apple 

 trees ^ that we can "step down into," 



^./atber E, Piper 



This article was prepared for the February issue of FRUIT NOTES but lack of space de- 

 layed its publication, 



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