FRUIT-GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES 457 



various ways, but most unbiased persons agree that as a rule the 

 freight rates on Northwestern fruits are exorbitant. 



The apple barrel of the East is almost entirely replaced here 

 with the bushel box. The standard box is 18 x 11 x io. 1 , in. To 

 accommodate certain sizes of fruit, there is a special apple box, 

 which is 20 x 11 x 10] in. These are inside measurements, with 

 end pieces | inch thick. The boxes cost about $9.00 per hundred 

 knocked down. All filled boxes are supposed to weigh 50 pounds 

 and contain 1 bushel of fruit. The choicest apples, particularly 

 the yellow-skinned varieties, are commonly wrapped before being 

 packed. The packing of fruit in tiers in these boxes gives a uni- 

 formity which it is almost impossible to secure in barrel packing. 

 Barrels are sometimes used for shipping apples across the sea, as 

 the salt air injures certain varieties when packed in boxes, but these 

 constitute a very small proportion of the fruit marketed. 



6. Organisation. The Northwest country realizes that its future 

 lies in thorough organization. The men are enthusiastic for it, and 

 being so aggressive they generally get what they want. Meetings 

 of the men in horticultural organizations are full of vim and snap, 

 and teem with the " get there " spirit of this progressive country. 



Apple-growing in western New York. The western New York 

 apple-growing belt embraces territory about 125 miles long and 

 from 10 to 20 miles in width. It includes parts of eleven counties 

 — Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Wayne, Cay- 

 uga, Oswego, Ontario, Seneca, and Yates. From 10 to 15 per cent 

 of the total area of these counties is planted to apple trees of various 

 kinds, and in 1909, according to the last census, they contained 

 40 per cent of the apple trees and produced 5 3 per cent of all the 

 apples grown in the state of New York. 



Practically all the young orchards are being set with fillers, 

 peach trees being used extensively and with great success in the 

 peach-growing sections. The distance apart is not over 20 feet, 

 and usually it is 18. The rectangular method of planting is 

 followed, with every other tree in one row a permanent tree and 

 the others fillers, and in the next row all fillers. Out of four trees 

 three are peach and one is apple. In other sections the system 

 most often employed is to use other varieties of the apple for 

 fillers, especially the so-called early-bearing varieties. At the 



