56 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



sets and other old-time favorites, with bloom on their 

 cheeks, betraying their ride in the meal bag, and, as is 

 usually the case with artificial bloom, adding nothing to 

 their attractiveness. 



The other ways of disposing of surplus apples were in 

 the manufacture of cider, boiled cider and vinegar, or in 

 drying the fruit. For the latter operation the kitchen 

 stove was usually surrounded with festoons of quartered 

 fruit, which had been patiently strung on twine, or the 

 prepared fruit was spread on racks above, or on papers 

 beneath the stove. 



Commercial Orchards. — It was not till after the first 

 quarter of the present century had passed that commercial 

 apple culture began to be developed to any extent, even in 

 the southern part of the Hudson Valley. Mr. W. D. Barnes 

 of Middle Hope tells me that the planting of commercial 

 apple orchards did not receive much attention in Ulster 

 County till about 1830 to 1835, although Robert Pell of 

 Esopus had about twenty acres of Newtown Pippin trees 

 from which he exported fruit as early as from 1825 to 1830. 



As transportation facilities gradually improved by the 

 opening of canals and railways, the farmers in many inte- 

 rior localities found that they could send their fruit to other 

 than local markets and receive profitable returns. Accord- 

 ingly, commercial orcharding began to increase, especially 

 in regions which were found to be naturally favorable to 

 the production of good apples. From 1850 to i860 the 

 number of commercial orchards which were planted 

 increased rapidly, particularly in western New York, and 

 continued to increase thereafter till commercial apple 

 orcharding assumed the important place which it now 

 holds in the horticultural interests of the State. 



Original Methods. — It is not surprising that the methods 

 of managing the old-time farm orchards should at first be 

 continued with the commercial orchards which followed 

 them. Some of these methods which are no doubt well 

 suited to farm orchards holding a position of subordinate 

 importance in the farm economy, should now generally be 

 discarded for better ones, when dealing with commercial 

 apple orchards. 



