Leading Apple Regions of the United States 41 



marie Pippins for more than a century and a half, the old 

 Winesap is more widely grown and is produced in greater 

 commercial quantities than any other variety. York Im- 

 perial represents from 15 to 20 per cent of the regional 

 production, while Stayman and Black Twig occur in some 

 commercial plantings. The age of the Piedmont orchards 

 varies from a few years to a century. The oldest trees in 

 profitable bearing are those of the Albemarle Pippin or 

 Newtown variety which was highly prized in the English 

 markets a century ago. On account of late bearing and 

 susceptibility to bitter-rot, this variety is less popular in 

 the newer plantings. Principal commercial plantings 

 average from fifteen to twenty years of age and lean rather 

 strongly to Winesap, Stayman and York Imperial. A full 

 crop for this region would be about 800,000 barrels but 

 the average is not much over 500,000 barrels. 



Piedmont orchards are distinctly mountainous in char- 

 acter, most of them being situated on hill or mountain 

 sides. They are somewhat difficult to work and harvesting 

 operations are expensive. Practically all the fruit is 

 barreled and moves to outside markets, there being little 

 home trade. Many of the York Imperials and Albemarle 

 Pippins are exported. While annual yields do not gener- 

 ally equal those of the Shenandoah-Cumberland on the 

 west, higher quality varieties are grown and better prices 

 are received. Among the disadvantages to be considered 

 in this region is the prevalence of bitter-rot. Root-rot has 

 also caused considerable loss and the growers find it impos- 

 sible to control. 



A considerable acreage of young trees will attain full 

 bearing soon after 1920 and the production of this section 

 will doubtless be increased. High quality fruit and a 



