54 The Commercial Apple Industry 



Illinois will remain the leading apple state of the Middle 

 West for some years to come. 



OZARK REGION 



The Ozark region in southern Missouri and northwest- 

 ern Arkansas is one of the best known apple sections in 

 the United States, although in production it rankfr third 

 among the four important Middle West districts. 



Essentially it is a Ben Davis region, since this variety 

 and Gano represent over 65 per cent of its plantings, and 

 an even greater proportion of its production. During the 

 decade 1890 to 1900, the entire Ozark region experienced 

 an era of planting unequalled in any other section of the 

 country. Prices for apples in the late eighties stimulated 

 and encouraged' plantings, and the good yields produced 

 by the Ozark orchards then in bearing afforded excellent 

 returns. The over-planting which occurred in the 

 nineties resolved itself into somewhat of a land-selling 

 boom, a repetition of which was experienced in the west- 

 ern states from 1900 to 1910. Thousands of acres of 

 both suitable and unsuitable land throughout the Ozarks 

 have been set to- trees, but of this great acreage only 

 a portion has been cared for and much has been neglected 

 and abandoned. The Ozark region includes some of the 

 best and some of the worst orchards in the country. A 

 period of late spring frosts in 1900 to 1910, when a num- 

 ber of consecutive crops were lost or severely damaged, 

 contributed to the lack of care accorded to many of these 

 trees. . 



A full crop for the entire Ozark region would probably 

 not exceed 1,600,000 barrels. Arkansas' contribution to 

 the Ozark apple production originates almost entirely in 



