Importance and History of the Apple Industry 3 



Some idea of the relative importance of the apple crop 

 may be obtained by a study of the following table : 



TABLE I. ESTIMATED VALUE OF IMPORTANT CROPS OF THE 

 UNITED STATES, BASED ON FIVE- YEAR AVERAGE 1914r-1918 



Corn $2,634,804,000 



Wheat 1,198,737,000 



Hay 1,132,276,000 



Cotton 1,097,039,000 



Oats 773,752,000 



Potatoes 372,239,000 



Tobacco 208,426,000 



Apples 184,774,000 



DECLINE OF FABM ORCHARDS 



At present commercial apples can be grown successfully 

 only when scientific and intensive cultural methods are 

 employed. The farmer can no longer give his orchard in- 

 different care and expect to compete with the commercial 

 grower. With the advent of new districts, competition 

 has necessitated the adoption of improved methods mark- 

 ing the decline of the farm orchard and the corresponding 

 rise in importance of specialized commercial plantings. 



About 1850, apple-growing began to assume important 

 commercial proportions, but for many years the farm 

 orchards remained an important factor. The demand for 

 apples in the towns and cities was at first supplied from 

 the farm orchards in adjacent territory. No great effort 

 was made to locate distant markets and in years of heavy 

 production most of the crops would remain on the farm. 

 About 1860 certain highly productive sections of western 

 New York demonstrated their superiority in producing 

 high quality fruit and this fruit outsold that from other 

 districts. These inherent advantages overcame the dis- 



