way to the more advantageous alternatives of specialized crop and live- 

 stock operations. 



Tabic 3. Apple Trees, by Regions, United States, 1940-1960 



Source: Bureau of Census, United States Census of Agriculture, 1950 General Re- 

 port, Vol. II, 704-705. 



Bureau of Census, United States Census of Agriculture, 1959 Final Report, Vol. I. 



The Pacific area (including the Winatchee Valley) is the only one 

 that experienced an ahsolute increase in the numher of apple trees he- 

 tween 1940 and 1960. Although this area is a very important producer 

 of apples, tree numhers are hecoming misleading. The Pacific area for 

 the past few years has heen planting dwarfed trees in large numliers. 

 Since it takes several dwarf trees to prodvice as many apples as one 

 standard tree, the increase in numljcrs of trees is not necessarily indica- 

 tive of a material increase in production. In fact, total production of 

 apples in the Pacific region has heen experiencing a sight downward 

 trend during the past 20 years. 



The northeastern portion of the United States (New England and the 

 Mid-Atlantic states) currently has ahout the same numher of trees as 

 the Pacific area, hut the former had almost three times as many trees 

 in 1940. The major cause of this drastic change has heen that high 

 land values and taxes have forced unproductive orchards out of the 

 url)anized Northeast. 



Tahle 3 shows the percentage of total trees in each region that are 

 of non-hearing age, which is an indication of the future trend in region- 

 al production. Those areas with high percentage of young ( non-hearing 

 trees) are the ones that are presumed to be vigorously maintaining or 

 expanding their orchards. The relative positions of the northwestern 

 and northeastern states are of importance in this respect. On the basis 

 of current evidence, it seems that production will expand in the Pacific 

 area and contract in the Northeast. 



Table 4 shows that in 1920, four geographical divisions, the Pacific, 

 Mid-Atlantic, East North Central, and South Atlantic, produced 74 

 percent of the total United States apjile crop. The three smallest pro- 



