NEW YORK 



1085 



1483. County map of New York State. 



the climate in their immediate neighborhood. The 

 shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario conserve horticultural 

 interests, the former being famous for its grapes, the 

 latter for its strawberries, peaches and apples. Because 

 of its snug winters, there is rarely any starting of fruit- 

 buds by "warm spells, "and consequently little danger 

 of loss from spring frosts. The fruit-growing suffers 

 less from frost than it does in the southern states. 



New York contains about 230,000 farms. Agricultu- 

 rally, the most important industry in New York state 

 (aside from general mixed farming) is dairying. The 

 second industry is fruit-growing, and this seems to be 

 extending more rapidly than the other. The leading 

 fruit is the apple. Nearly all parts of the state grow 

 apples easily, but the great commercial apple-growing 

 regions are the counties of Wayne, Monroe, Orleans, 

 Niagara, with important extensions in Ontario, Gene- 

 see and adjacent counties and in Columbia and other 

 east-Hudson counties. A full crop of apples in New 

 York is nearly or quite 7,000,000 barrels. Baldwin is 

 the leading variety, with no varieties which occupy a 

 close second place. Northern Spy, Rhode Island Green- 

 ing, and American Golden Russet are important com- 

 mercial varieties. Of late, Ben Davis has been widely 

 planted, but it is probable that this variety will always 

 hold a secondary place in the northeastern states. Un- 

 til within the last decade, most New York apple orchards 

 have been in sod; but, under the stimulus of rational 

 horticultural teaching, 75 per cent of the orchards 

 in the apple-growing counties are now under a 

 most thorough system of clean tillage. Fig. 1485. Most 

 of these orchards are sprayed. Crops have been heavy 

 in recent years and prices have averaged good ; as a 

 result, the apple industry is in thriving condition. The 

 most thorough business methods are employed in car- 

 ing for the orchards and in disposing of the crop. A 

 large part of the apple crop is exported, although there 

 is a very large business in evaporated fruit. 



The grape occupies second place in New York po- 

 mology. More than 50,000 acres is devoted to this in- 

 dustry, of which about half the area is in Chautauqua 

 county, lying in a narrow strip against Lake Erie. The 

 other special areas are the central lake region and the 

 Hudson river valley. These three areas stand for three 

 types of viticulture early and special table grapes for 

 near-by markets in the Hudson valley; staple varieties 

 for wine and grape juice in parts of the lake region, 

 (particularly on Keuka lake) ; general-purpose varieties 

 for distant markets in the Chautauqua region. In the 

 lake region, Catawba is a leading variety. In Chautau- 

 qua, Concord far outstrips all others. A normal out- 

 put of table grapes in New York is about 60,000 to 

 70,000 tons; of wine between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 

 gallons. The grape areas lie close to the lakes or large 

 rivers, thereby receiving the benefit of the ameliorated 

 local climate. 



New York is known also for its pears. The apple 

 counties mentioned above, and Oswego, Onondaga, and 

 Columbia counties are the leading pear areas. Bartlett 

 is the staple variety, but Kieffer has risen to near the 

 first place in recent years. The number of commercial 

 varieties, however, is relatively large. The culture of 

 dwarf pears is popular and has reached a high degree 

 of perfection. Thrifty and productive orchards 40 and 

 50 years old stand in various parts of the state. 



The plum is largely planted in western New York, in 

 many varieties. In acreage, Lombard probably leads, but 

 several other varieties excel in commercial importance. 

 The Damsons are largely grown; also the German and 

 Italian prunes (but the latter are not dried). The 

 Japanese plums are now widely planted, and are giving 

 general satisfaction. They are rarely injured by late 

 spring frosts. The improved native plums are relatively 

 little known. 



Peaches are grown about all the central lakes and in 

 the Hudson valley, but the only distinct natural peach 



