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POMOLOGY 



POMOLOGY 



1893. A vineyard of American grapes (New York). 



Picking-crates are shown in the foreground. 



with the introduction of the Hovey in 1836, although 

 there were market plantations of small extent about 

 some of the larger towns. The commercial culture of 

 blackberries and rasp- 

 berries, although it be- 

 gan about the middle of 

 the century, did not ac- 

 quire distinct import- 

 ance until after the 

 reaction from the Civil 

 War. The very fact that 

 there is a horticultural 

 industry is a most im- 

 portant innovation in 

 our agricultural status. 

 2. With the rise of 

 commercial pomology 

 there have developed all 

 those questions which 

 are related to market- 

 ing. The new market 

 ideals cluster about 

 three centers: (1) The 

 demand for special pro- 

 ducts for special uses, 



(2 ) the growing demand 

 for small packages, and 



(3) the remarkable evolution of transportation facili- 

 ties, and of cold storage. There has arisen an increased 

 desire for special grades and for particular kinds of 

 fruit. The fruits that were current fifty years ago may 

 not be good enough for the markets of to-day. Com- 

 mercial pomology rests on the fact that more people are 

 consuming fruits. Many of these people buy only in 

 small lots for present consumption. They go to the 

 market often. They have no facilities for storing the 

 fruit, and they do not buy for the purpose of selling. 

 Therefore the small package has come to be increas- 

 ingly more important. Fig. 1897. Within the last 

 twenty-five years there has been an increasing demand 

 for a package that can be given away with the fruit. 

 This demand for the small and individual package may 

 be expected to increase with all the better kinds of 

 fruits or with those that appeal to the personal cus- 

 tomer. This is true in all lines of trade. Twenty-five 

 years ago boots and shoes were distributed in large 

 board cases, but now each pair is sold in a neat card- 

 board box. We are still too conservative in respect to 

 the handling of apples in barrels. In the general trade 

 and for the staple varieties of apples the barrel may be 

 the best package, but for the personal customer and 

 particularly with all the finer or dessert varieties, a 

 small package must come into use. It is, in fact, 

 a question whether the bushel box would not be better 

 for even the staple apple trade. In most parts of the 

 world, except in the central and eastern part of the 

 United States, apples are not handled in barrels. The 



1894. Harvest time in the apple orchard. 



very fact that the grower must give attention to his 

 package as well as to the growing of his crop, forces 

 him to adopt a new point of view in his fruit-grow- 

 ing. 



3. Modern commercial orcharding has developed 

 the- tillage ideal. Under the old regime the tree was 

 able to take care of itself and to bear a produce good 

 enough to meet the uncritical demands. Nowadays, 

 however, the tree must receive the very best of care, 

 for we desire annual crops of great quantity and of 

 the best quality. Therefore the plant must be sup- 

 plied with abundance of plant-food and moisture. 

 Time was when it was thought that the mere appli- 

 cation of chemical plant-food to the soil would be 

 sufficient to make a plant productive. It is now un- 

 derstood, however, that plant-food is only one of the 

 requisites of good growth. The soil must be deep 

 and loose and fine, so that it will hold moisture and 

 promote all those chemical and biological activities 

 which make the land productive. In former times 

 the best attention in tillage was given to the annual 

 crops. The orchard was usually in neglect. This 

 was because the fruit plantation had small commer- 

 cial importance. Now that the fruit plantation has 

 risen to first importance, in many cases, it must be 

 given as good care as any farm crop. In recent 

 years there has been great development of special 

 tools and implements for the tillage of orchard lands. 

 Greater attention is given to the original preparation of 



the land, so that plant- 

 ers no longer ask how 

 large the hole must be 

 to receive a tree, but 

 accept Warder's advice 

 that the hole should be 

 as large as the orchard. 

 The philosophy of or- 

 chard tillage, as un- 

 derstood by the best 

 teachers and for most 

 parts of the country, is 

 (1) to prepare the land 

 thoroughly at the out- 

 set, (2) to give frequent 

 light surface tillage in 

 the early part of the sea- 

 son or until the crop is 

 nearly or quite grown, 

 and then (3) to cover the 

 land with some crop 

 that will remain on the 

 ground over winter and 

 can be plowed under in 



spring. If the land has been well prepared it is not 

 necessary to plow it deep after the first two or three 

 years, unless one is turning under a heavy cover-crop. 



1895. Lunch time in the apple harvest. 



