APPLE 



APPLE 



323 



tinct sort) found its way from Virginia by railroad to 

 the eastern seaboard eities and at an early date moved 

 across the Atlantic in considerable quantities, where 

 its ilurability and fine dessert quaUty created an active 

 demand at prices that yielded a good profit to the 

 grower. 



Extent of llie planting. 



Gradually commercial orcharding has been differen- 

 tiatetl from ordinary farm fruit-growing and a consider- 

 able number of farms have become distinctively orchard 

 farms on which the apple is the main crop, with merely 

 such cereals and forage crops as can be grown without 

 interfering with the essential orchard ojx'rations, such 

 as orchard cultivation, spraj-ing, harvesting, and the 

 hke. 



Most of the systematically planted and cared for 

 orchards are under thirty years of age and a large pro- 

 portion of the acreage in these has been planted since 

 1900. Accurate statistical information regariling the 

 acreage or number of trees of orchard fruits in the 

 United States is lacking, and this is peculiarly true of 

 those regions in which, because of varying topography 

 and the resulting eccentricities of climate and varia- 

 tions in soil, the orchard areas vary greatly in size and 

 form, as is true of much of this region. Outside of the 

 Great Valley of Virginia, and Tennessee, and those 

 portions of the Piedmont region of Virginia that are 

 adapted to orcharding, most of the best orchard sites 

 occur as coves, benches or broken slopes, possessing at 

 the same time suitable depth and character of soil, and 

 adequate atmospheric drainage. (Figs. 271, 272.) Some 

 of the best orchards are strung out along the lower 

 slopes, varying in width in accordance with particular 

 soil types. This is especially true of the "pippin 

 orchards" in the Blue Ridge district of Virginia and 

 North Carohna where certain particular combinations 

 of soil and slope are considered important for the 

 Yellow Newtown. 



The following summary of the number of trees, both 

 bearing and non-bearing, and of yield and value of crop 

 in the eight states comprised in the region, is compiled 

 from the advance sheets of the census of 1910: 



ripening and therefore shortened the storage durability 

 of the fruit; relatively long hauls from orchards to rail- 

 road station over rough roads resulted in much bruising 

 and, by prolonging the exposure of the fruit to the 

 weather, still furt,her impaired its keeping quality. The 

 development of efficient remedies and spraying equip- 

 ment, and the improvement in methods of handhng 

 the fruit, coupled with the marked improvement in 

 rop,ds that has been accomplished in many sections is 

 rapidly changing this. The railroads also, in recognition 

 of the need have accelerated and improved their ser- 



It will be observed on comparison of these tables 

 with those of the United States as a whole that this 

 region is credited with approximately 20 per cent of 

 both bearing and non-bearing trees, and that the prod- 

 uct of the region in the crop year of 1909 was of some- 

 what smaller proportion (19 per cent) and value (17 

 per cent). 



Outlook for Ike Alleghany region. 



In contrast with the more northern apple districts, 

 most of this region was until recently somewhat at a 

 disadvantage so far as commercial production is con- 

 cerned. Higher humidity favored the development of 

 certain injurious <liseasc'H in foliage and fruit; the wanner 

 weather commonly prevalent in autumn accelerated 



272 Apple orchard n Piedmont region of the Alleghanies 



vice so that certain parts of the region are handling 

 their apples as well as the Ix^st eastern or barrel-fruit 

 districts, and better than in much of the older com- 

 mercial apple territory. 



The conspicuous essentials of success in orcharding 

 in this region, as in others, are: 



(1) Suitability of site, as regards character of 3oiI and adequacy 

 of atniospheric drainage. 



(2) Adaptability of varieties to the soil and cliTnate of the location.- — 

 The standard northern varieties, though growing and frequently 

 bearing well, are unreliable in most locahties, especially below 

 elevations under 200 feet, although in certain localities succeeding 

 well under careful management. The thoroughly proved and 

 distinctively important commercial sorts of the region are York 

 Imperial, Winesap, Stayman Winesap, Kinnard, Ben Davis, 

 Yellow Newtown, Grimes, Willow and Rome Beauty. In some 

 sections less well-known sorts, such as Paragon, Arkansas (syn. 

 Mammoth Black Twig), Bonum, Virginia Beauty, Lowry, Shockley, 

 and Terry, are considerably planted in commercial orchards. 



Gano, Delicious, Jonathan and some other sorts of Mississippi 

 Valley or northern origin are promising in certain localities, but 

 these have not yet been sufficiently tested to justify ex- 

 tensive planting. 



Summer varieties, though succeeding well throughout 

 most of the region and universally found in sufficient quan- 

 tity for home use, have not become so important commer- 

 cially as in the lower lands of the tidewater districts and of 

 the Mississippi Valley. This is in a large measure due to the 

 earlier ripening of the fruit at lower elevations, which fre- 

 quently gives it a distinct advantage in northern markets. 

 Recently, considerable plantings of Yellow Transparent, 

 Williams, Oldenburg, Gravenstein and some other sorta 

 have been made in the more northern districts of the region, 

 especially in West Virginia and western Maryland. 



(3) Abundance of wafer for aprayiny. — The necessity of 

 thorough and systematic spraying of orchards to protect 

 against insects and fungi makes the orchard water supply 

 an important factor. In many places, flowing springs are 

 available at considerable elevations from which the supply 

 can bo piped by gravity to convenient mixing stations, ttius 

 permitting prompt distribution without long wagon haul of 

 liquid. The use of compressed-air spraying-outfits, charged 

 at conveniently located air-compressing and spray-mixing 

 stations, has developed more largely in the lower Shenan- 

 doah Valley part of this region than elsewhere, but the 

 gasoline engine is the prevailing type of equipment. 



(4) Adaptability of kind to cultivation. — W'hile occasional orchards 

 in this as in other humid regions do well without systematic tillage, 

 especially if heavily mulched with stable manure, straw or other 

 humuH-produeing material, annual or at least alternate-year 

 plowing and cultivation, supplemented by leguminous crops, is 

 rapidly becoming the generally accepted best practice of the 

 region. Some sites otherwise admirably adapted to apple-growing 

 arc too rocky or too steep to plow, and therefore of doubtful value 

 to the orchardist. Much can be done on such sites by contour- 

 t'-rraeing, however, both to dispose of loose rocks and to reduce 

 washing of the slopes, thereby conserving the soil moisture against 

 droughty periods. 



(5) Adequacy of transportation facilities. — This includes both 

 railroads and highways. Some of the earlier-planted commercial 

 orrhards were located as much as 15 to 25 or even 30 miles from 

 the shipping station. The expense incident to this long haul and 

 the ill effect of the jolting and exposure of the fruit to the weather 

 are evident. Kvory additional mile beyond a distance of 3 miles 

 from the station over a good road is a handicap which the orchard 



