182 bulletin no. 54. [March, 



According to the best authorities on the subject, Illinois has a 

 larger apple acreage than any other state in the union. According to 

 the Census report for 1890 there were at that time 3,016 acres of one, 

 two, and three year old nursery apple trees in the state, or 1,000 acres 

 more than New York, and 216 acres more than Ohio, the second largest, 

 which means that these trees are today ten, eleven, and twelve years 

 old, unless destroyed. About ninety per cent, of the trees on the above 

 3,0:6 acres were sold for planting in this state. Statistics show, too, 

 that the number of acres planted to apple trees has yearly increased 

 since that time, until today, according to the statistics compiled by the 

 State Horticultural Society, there are more than 150,000 acres devoted 

 to this fruit in southern Illinois alone. They say, to quote directly: 

 "That for the counties of Richland, Clay, Jasper and Marion there is a 

 total of 70,000 acres, with 50 trees to the acre, making a total of 

 3,500,000 trees. At ten years of age it is estimated that these trees will 

 bear an average of ten bushels of apples to the tree, making a total for 

 the four counties of 11,700,000 barrels, or 60,000 car loads. Think of 

 this! 2,000 train loads of 30 cars each, and we have a faint idea of what 

 the future for Illinois orchards will be." Granting that ten bushels per 

 tree is too large an estimate, the fact still remains that there should be 

 an annual production in these counties of at least 5,000,000 barrels. Or 

 again, since every one of the 102 counties of the state has a very con- 

 siderable apple acreage, we may safely reason from this as well as the 

 above and other estimates, that the annual production of the state 

 should be at least double the above figures, or 10,000,000 barrels of 

 apples. But the fact that during the year just past there were very 

 much less than 1,000,000 barrels of apples of first and second quality 

 that matured, should cause each and every land owner of this state to 

 reflect seriously on the causes of this shortage. 



The fact is that most apple growers have not given sufficient atten- 

 tion to the several principles underlying orcharding, and especially that 

 ' relating to spraying. It is also a fact that although Illinois was one of 

 the pioneers in the matter of combating the codling-moth and other 

 apple insects, today only a small percentage (perhaps less than ten) of 

 our apple producers take any precaution whatever to check the ravages 

 of this insect. Not only this, but not seven per cent, of the apple pro- 

 ducers in the great apple region of Illinois sprayed their trees during 

 the past year for their protection against the apple scab fungus. Ac- 

 cording to the observations carried on at this Station and in a number 

 of private orchards in the state, this disease is responsible for the loss 

 of at least $6,000,000, or sixty per cent, of the total loss above referred 

 to, to the apple growers of Illinois during the past season. This esti- 

 mate is based upon the supposition that apples were worth one dollar 

 a barrel. 



