174 RURAL NEW YORK 



restricted to well defined regions. Both soil and 

 climate enter into the conditions that determine the 

 distribution. 



There are three or perhaps four sections of apple 

 production : the lakes region, including the shore of 

 Lake Ontario and the Central Lakes, the Hudson, 

 and the Champlain Valley. The lakes region is by 

 far the most extensive. Five counties on the Ontario 

 shore, Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Wayne and Ontario 

 in 1909 produced more apples than any state 

 except Pennsylvania. The lakes apple region forms 

 a broad belt south of Lake Ontario and loops south- 

 ward in the Seneca-Cayuga Lake district and in the 

 Genesee A'alley, to the middle of this part of the 

 State. Ten counties stand in the following order in 

 the number of trees to the square mile, a figure that 

 very well represents the intensity of production : 

 Niagara 1540, Orleans 1380, Wayne 1300, Monroe 

 1100, Genesee 620, Ontario 495, Yates 466, Erie 435, 

 Seneca 370, Livingston 230. The acreage thins out 

 to the eastward in western Oswego and Onondaga 

 counties, and westward it follows the escarpment 

 overlooking Lake Erie in Chautauqua County. 



There are very few important orchards above an 

 elevation of 1,000 feet and the more intensive pro- 

 duction is at an elevation of 300 to 800 feet. 



The Hudson Valley belt lies on either side of that 

 river within ten miles, and centers about the north 

 line of Dutchess County. It spreads north to Kin- 

 derhook and south to Newburg. It attains some im- 

 portance in Saratoga County south of Ballston 



