BuEEAU OF Agkicultxjee 519 



sharp axe on a great many of the trees, but he finally decided to 

 leave them, and the result is that today Henderson County is one of 

 the biggest fruit growing counties in Kentucky. 



I believe that its reputation is due largely to the efforts of 

 that one man. He has had a great influence over the fruit growing 

 industry of the whole county. That man is the Rev. E. McCoUom; 

 He still produces a good quality of fruit, and is still a good fruit 

 man, as he always was. This fall, the County Agricultural Agent 

 undertook to take a fruit census of Henderson County, getting the 

 numbers, ages, and varieties of trees. Of course this is slow work. 

 You have to get out and visit the growers personally to get the statis- 

 tics from them. So far I have only received 35 responses out of 110 re- 

 quests to cards that we sent out, but we hope to have the complete 

 list by spring. The best estimate we can make now on the number 

 of trees is 100,000. 



The varieties are good. We have practicall.y all the apples that 

 ■will grow in Kentucky, but the chief variety in Henderson County 

 is the Winesap. The Winesap tree there grows to perfection. This 

 year, practically the entire crop of apples in Henderson County was 

 Winesap. There were about 10,000 barrels produced, about 8,000 

 of which are now in cold storage. We also grow Stayman, De- 

 licious, Black Ben, Mammoth Black Twig, Rome, and some few 

 others, but not in great quantities. The Winesap is the most pro- 

 ductive. We are getting away from the Ben Davis. Practically ' 

 all the new orchards are Winesap. Another variety that seems to be 

 gaining popularity is the Delicious apple. There are only four 

 bearing Delicious trees in Henderson County, and so far as I can see, 

 the man who grows them is not very well satisfied with th'em. I do 

 not mean to condemn the apple for it is one of the best, but so far as 

 productiveness and profitableness are concerned it has not been fully 

 successful in that county. The Mammoth Black Twig is quite pop- 

 ular, and many new orchards are being put out in that variety. The 

 Ben Davis of course bears very well, but they are having a little 

 'trouble marketing the apple. The buyers take the Winesap and 

 other varieties in preference to the Ben Davis, and the grower finds 

 it a problem to get rid of his Ben Davis. 



There is a variety of soils in Henderson County. Most of the 

 orchards lie in the coal fields, with red clay soil, and seem to pro- 

 duce the best fruit. We have some Ohio river bottom land in the 

 county and I know of several orchards in that kind of soil that are 

 producing good apples profitably. 



As to orchard management, practically every man has his own 

 method of management. Cover crops are largely used, mostly crim- 

 son clover. In the red clay soils, where they are rather depleted, 

 they use cowpeas and soy beans in the summer, and crimson clover 

 in the winter, to bring up the fertility of the soil and they give good 



