Leading Apple Regions of the United States 49 



MICHIGAN '■ 



Commercial apple-growing has been an important enter- 

 prise in Michigan for forty years or more. While apple 

 plantings are not confined to any one county or group of 

 counties, they are centralized in the region bordering on 

 the eastern^ shore of Lake Michigan where the tempering 

 influence of the lake favors the culture of many deciduous 

 fruits. Some of the soils in this region are extremely 

 sandy and are more particularly adapted to peach-growing 

 than to apple-culture. A large portion of land, however, 

 is a sandy clay loam, we}l suited to apples. 



The region is known as the western Michigan fruit helt 

 and extends from Berrien County on the south to Che- 

 boygan County on the north. The most important apple 

 counties of this region are Van Buren, Allegan, Kent, Ber- 

 rien, Oceana and Grand Traverse. Apple plantings are 

 also found in adjoining counties and widely scattered 

 throughout most of the lower peninsula of Michigan. 

 Some of the oldest orchards in the state are in the south 

 and southeastern counties, but the importance of this re- 

 gion has given way to the newer plantings, particu- 

 larly in the northern end of the western Michigan fruit 

 belt. 



Production for western Michigan in a full crop year 

 would approximate 1,200,000 barrels or about 75 per cent 

 of the total commercial apple production of the state of 

 Michigan. The plantings in the southern part of the belt 

 suffered severe loss from San Jose scale, while those in the 

 northern part are much younger and have experienced less 

 injury from scale. There has undoubtedly been a decline 

 in the production in Michigan as compared with 1910. 



