APPLES 



79 



THE PRESEM' STATUS OF THE 

 APPLE IXDUSTRY 



There is probably no branch of agri- 

 culture that has developed in the past 

 20 years under such an impetus as has 

 the fruit industry. It has developed in 

 a quarter of a century from a more or 

 less general and relatively unimportant 

 line of agriculture to a very highly spe- 

 cialized line of great importance. With- 

 in this period the operation of spraying 

 for insect pests and fungus diseases has 

 been developed without which, commer- 

 cial fruit growing, at least commercial 

 apple growing as we know it today, would 

 be an impossibility. Without spraying 

 pests and fungi would reign supreme in 

 every orchard. 



During the past 20 or 25 years fruit 

 growing has been extended to practically 

 every section of our country. In some 

 sections where, 25 years ago, fruit cul- 

 ture was not thought of as a possibility 

 and where even its suggestion was a mat- 

 ter of ridicule, men are now finding fruit 

 growing profitable. 



In the case of the peach, for instance; 

 instead of its production being confined 

 to a narrow strip along the lake-shore 

 of Michigan and to New Jersey, Delaware 

 and the eastern shore of Maryland, as 

 was the case not very many years ago, 

 the peach is now produced commercially 

 to some extent in practically four-fifths 

 of the states in the Union. In other 

 words, instead of being adapted only to 

 the peculiar conditions of a few restricted 

 areas, the experience of later years has 

 demonstrated that with suitable varieties 

 and proper cultural methods peaches may 

 be successfully grown under a very wide 

 range of conditions. And so it is with 

 many other fruits. 



We very commonly refer to the "pres- 

 ent status of fruit growing." What is 

 the "present status"? What is the road 

 that has been traveled in the present de- 

 velopment of fruit culture? Whither are 

 we bound in its future development? 



The presentation in this connection of 

 a few significant points of an historical 

 nature might be of interest, showing as 

 they do something of what the "present 



status" of fruit growing is in contrast 

 with past stages of its development. 



American pomological literature is only 

 about 100 years old and in the first book* 

 relative to fruit growing and gardening 

 that was published In America, Bernard 

 M'Mahon, its author, makes these inter- 

 esting statements: "But the misfortune 

 is, that too frequently after orchards are 

 planted and fenced, they seldom have any 

 more care bestowed upon them. Boughs 

 are allowed to hang dangling to the 

 ground; their heads are so loaded with 

 wood as to be almost impervious to sun 

 and air, and they are left to be exhausted 

 with moss and injured by cattle, etc. 

 * * * " 



"The feelings of a lover of improvement 

 can scarcely be expressed on observing 

 the almost universal inattention paid to 

 the greater number of our orchards, and 

 that people who go to considerable ex- 

 pense in planting and establishing them 

 afterwards leave them to the rude hand 

 of nature; as if the art and ingenuity 

 of man availed nothing, or that they 

 merited no further care!" 



Is it fair to say that the average or- 

 chard of today is a more or less neglected 

 orchard? If so, then perhaps there is a 

 grain of comfort in thus being assured 

 that the average orchard of our time is 

 at least no worse in respect to the gen- 

 eral condition in which it is maintained 

 than was "the greater number" of the 

 orchards 100 years ago. 



Varieties Propagated 



A numeral inventory of the apple vari- 

 eties that have entered into American 

 pomology shows some interesting facts. 

 Such an inventory is made possible 

 through a bulletin in the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry series issued several years 

 ago by the Department of Agriculture, 

 entitled: "Nomenclature of the Apple: 

 A Catalogue of the Known Varieties Re- 

 ferred to in American Publications from 

 1804 to 1904." This catalogue, as the 

 name implies, contains a list of all the 

 variety names, both accredited names and 

 synonyms, that have been published in 

 American works during the century 1804 



» American Gardener's Calendar by Bernard 

 MMahon. 1806. 



