THE APPLE IN MASSACHUSETTS 95 



with them. There are o^'er 60,000 Wealtliy trees in the state, of which nearly 

 half are not yet bearing. The Wealthy is planted primarily as a filler, and 

 nearly 60 per cent of the ]) resent number are used for that purpose. Over 80 

 per cent of the Wealthy plantings are under fifteen years of age, and the 

 production of this variety may be expected to decline very little, even with 

 the removal of fillers. Plantings during each of the five-year periods since 

 1910 have been about equal and the indications are that the present rate of 

 3,000 trees per year will continue. Wealthy production amounts to only 5 

 per cent of the total. About 4-0 per cent of the Wealthies sold are graded, 

 and 75 per cent of those graded were sold as A's. Disease and insect damage 

 made some difference in this figure during the past season. 



Gravenstein 



The Gravenstein crop is much larger than tiie AVealthy crop, although there 

 are fewer trees. Out of nearly .50,000 trees reported, 40 per cent are not yet 

 bearing. The Gravenstein has a higher percentage of non-bearing trees than 

 any other variety except the Mcintosh. Plantings during the past five years 

 total over 11,000 trees, a decline of 35 per cent from the preceding five-year 

 period. Two-thirds of the Gravenstein trees are under fifteen years of age, 

 which indicates a substantial increase in production in the future. The total 

 production in 1924 of 115,000 bushels, an average of four bushels per tree, 

 was almost double the Wealthy crop. Two-thirds of the crop was sold un- 

 graded, but of the amount graded, nearly 80 per cent was A grade. 



Delicious 



The Delicious is a comparative newcomer in Massachusetts, and of the 42,000 

 trees reported, over three-fourths are not yet bearing. Recent plantings have 

 been very heavy; over 60 per cent of all trees of this variety have been set 

 since 1920. One-fourth of the reporting growers have Delicious trees, usually 

 in small blocks for experimental purposes. 



Growers of this variety report sales difficult for the lower grades, but the 

 total volume of production is not sufficient to be a real factor on the market. 



Duchess 



The Duchess is the favorite of the early varieties, although there are only 

 20,000 trees, about half of which are not bearing. This variety is principally 

 planted as a filler, 40 per cent of the trees reported being for that purpose. 

 Plantings have fallen off during the past five years, and the present rate of 

 1,000 per year seems likely to decrease. Most of the Duchess trees are under 

 nfteen years of age, since they are early bearing and short lived. Coming on 

 the market early, production is not an important factor in the general market, 

 except for competition with early Wealthies. 



Transparent 



The Transparent is another of the early varieties used as a filler. Of the 

 16,000 Transparent trees reported, three-fourths are bearing. The rate of 

 planting has decreased recently, and many growers express the intention of 

 cutting out these trees. The poor quality of the fruit, its susceptibility to 

 insect injury and small size are some of the reasons advanced for discontinu- 

 ing the variety. 



