APPLES AS FOOD 3 



HISTORY OF THE APPLE 



The apple has been grown in Europe for more than two thousand years. Th e 

 cultivated apple, Mains Sylvestris (M. communis), probably had its origin in 

 mountain ranges of the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas. The 

 wild forebears of the apple are also found in adjoining regions of Asia Minor and 

 Persia (Varilow, 1930). 



It is believed that the name "apple" originated in Abella, a town in Campania, 

 where many fruit trees grow, and that Virgil conferred it upon a number of fruits 

 to which the gardener gives the name apple; namely, the balsam apple, the rose 

 apple, the pineapple, and the love apple (tomato) (King, 1946). 



The apple was brought to North America by the earliest settlers, and was 

 rapidly disseminated from coast to coast throughout the temperate zone of the 

 United States (Magness, 1941). After 1800 when grafting became more generally 

 known and practiced, the number of named varieties increased rapidly (Gourley 

 and Howlett, 1941). For convenience of discussion, Shaw (1911) divided North 

 America into seven apple belts, each having a fairly characteristic list of varieties. 

 In the apple trade, however, apples are classed mainly as "Western" and "East- 

 ern." The leading Western varieties are Winesap, Jonathan, Delicious, Yellow 

 Newtown, Rome Beauty, and of the early apples — the Gravenstein (United 

 States Department of Agriculture, 1935). 



In New England no less than fifty varieties can be found in commercial or- 

 chards. Of these, Mcintosh and Baldwin are the only two of real importance, 

 and the latter is declining. Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening, Cortland, 

 Wealthy, and Delicious are among the more important minor varieties. 



APPLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 



The total world's crop of apples exceeds 500 million bushels. This figure is 

 based on reports from thirty-one countries for a six-year period (1931-36), and 

 allowance is also made for the crops in such important countries as the U.S.S.R. 

 and China, for which definite information is lacking (Gourley and Howlett, 1941). 



However, with the greatly increased supplies of other fruits, apple consumption 

 in the United States has apparently decreased during the past thirty years, and 

 consequently, the number of apple trees has also decreased. 



Figure 1 shows the per capita civilian consumption of apples in the United 

 States for the period of 1909^3 (United States Department of Agriculture, 1944). 

 Whereas the per capita consumption of apples decreased from approximately 

 60-70 pounds to 40-60 pounds from 1909 to 1920, it has declined from 62 to 36 

 pounds during the period 1920 to 1930, and from 51 to 25 pounds during the 

 period 1930 to 1943. 



Figure 2 shows the total United States production of apples from 1909 to 1938 

 and Figure 3 the number of trees and the average yield per tree from 1909 to 

 1934 (United States Department of Agriculture, 1938). Whereas the decrease 

 in the number of trees of bearing age is about 45 percent; the yield per tree, owing 

 to improved methods of culture, has increased about 70 percent. 



There has been a rather steady decrease in the per capita consumption of 

 apples from 1910 to date. Some persons have attributed this decrease to the 

 increased availability of other fruits, particularly grapefruit and oranges. The 

 substitution of these other fruits can probably be attributed to the desire for 

 variety as well as other factors such as advertising and developments in the field 



