2 BULLETIN 1455, U: S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



the Shenandoah and Cumberland Valley of Virginia, West Virginia, 

 Maryland, and Pennsylvania. (Fig. 1.) Mountains on each side of 

 the valley give considerable protection from storms and sudden 

 changes of weather. The soil is of limestone origin and has excellent 

 drainage. 



The field work covered 125 farms for a period of five years (1916- 

 1920), and 48 of these farms, classed as orchard farms, were carried 

 a sixth year, 1921, to obtain facts relative to the severe freeze of that 

 year. Inasmuch as a freeze is not a normal expectation every six 

 years the 1921 figures do not appear in all averages. Average figures 

 are sometimes shown which include results for the year 1921, for 

 purposes of illustration and comparison. 



Wide variation in the degree of diversification was found on the 

 125 farms. Some farms had little or no area in orchard; on others 

 the area in orchard equaled the area in other crops; and other farms 





\wy 



SING AGE 



GE, 1919 



' X 



APPLE 

 APPRC 



TREES OF BEARING AG 

 XIMATE ACREAGE. 1919 



E 



■:'-. - , 



EACH DOT F 

 500 A 



EPRESENTS 

 CRES 





10^. 



V " * \ 



APPLE TREES OF BEA 



APPROXIMATE ACRE/ 



1 "*^p$ 



IT REPRESENTS I .. Z ^V~ 



'k-^kkA 



~i \ .■■■■ f \ 



•v:."'"^i-iS?w 



• 





^ 





APPLE TREES 



IConlinordl 





STATE 



ACRES 





\ / 



Ark". ! 

 Oreg . 

 Calif . 

 bid .. 



Idaho! 

 Md .. 

 Mao . 

 Other. 



66,285 

 58,214 

 55,252 

 52,143 

 48,968 

 43,310 

 39,674 

 34,414 

 33,857 

 360,130 



STATE 



ACRES 



STATE 



ACRES 





N.Y.. 

 Pa ... 

 Ohio. . 

 Mich . 

 Va... 

 Wajh. 



267,681 

 194,130 

 165,847 . 

 155,990 

 153,843 

 132,738 



W. Va 

 Me. .. 

 Ky... 

 Mo... 

 III.... 

 N.C.. 



115,751 

 78,701 

 77,985 

 74,749 

 73,050 

 72,394 





j 





U.S.. 



2,355,106 



Fig. 1. — The northwestern part of the State of Virginia in which this study was made is one of the 

 most intensive apple-producing areas in the United States 



were almost entirely dependent on the orchard enterprise for their 

 income. Since orcharding is gradually superseding other types of 

 farming here, there are farms in every stage of the transition period 

 from general diversified farming to straight orchard farming. 



To study the organization of farms in different stages of orchard 

 development, they have been sorted into types, according to the per- 

 centage of the total farm receipts received from the sale of apples as 

 shown by five-year averages. If 75 per cent or more of the total 

 receipts on any farm was from apples, the farm was classed as an 

 orchard farm; if 25 to 75 per cent of the total receipts on any farm 

 was from apples, it was classed as a mixed farm; if less than 25 per 

 cent of the total receipts on any farm was from apples, it was classed 

 as a general farm. 



Since the net returns from the orchard type of farming during the 

 time of this study were so much greater than the returns from either 

 of the other types, an analysis of the organization of the " mixed' 7 



