70) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
the low altitudes where the cotton plant 
is at home the apple tree is generally 
most uncomfortable. Except with the 
early or summer varieties, it is hard in 
such locations to keep apple trees in life. 
After resisting conditions unsuited to 
them they have little power left for fruit 
production. In the warm, sandy soils 
where sweet potatoes grow large and 
sweet, apple trees lose their leaves and 
Zone .... . al emperate. 
Climate 
Soil u... . 
Altitude 
Rainfall 
Drainage 
Sunlight 
Food 
In America the regions that produce 
the most and best apples are those that 
afford the largest number of these condi- 
tions, 
Mountain Regions for Apple Culture 
* * * The “Sunny South,” particu- 
larly in its mountain regions, has the 
clear air and abundant sunlight that put 
the right colors on the outside of the 
fruit and the fine flavors within. Other 
things being equal, the greater the 
amount of sunlight the higher colored 
the fruit. In regions where cloudy skies 
are prevalent fruits and also flowers are 
of dull colors. Clear, sunny weather 
will give bright flowers and also highly 
tinted fruits. The maximum hours of 
sunlight are obtained at high elevations. 
It is for this reason that mountain- 
grown fruit is superior in color and fla- 
vor to that of the same varieties grown 
in the lowlands. The best fruit grown 
in Eastern United States is that produced 
on the slopes of the Blue Ridge and Alle- 
ghany mountains. The most lofty por- 
tions of these mountain ranges are found 
in Western North Carolina. Here a rich 
soil, combined with high elevation, af- 
fords almost ideal conditions for com- 
mercial apple culture. Very few fruit 
growers in the South appreciate the 
splendid opportunities afforded for com- 
mercial apple growing in the high, cool, 
but sunny slopes of the Southern Appa- 
Jachian region. It is only in the last 
decade or so that fruit growers generally 
have become aware of the advantage of 
. weeatligh, 
---(tOOG. 
90 PES OUR oo bo Tt 
have a struggle for lie fiom season to 
season. On loamy or clayey soils they tee] 
more comfortable, show a correspondingly 
increased growth and productiveness, are 
freer from disease and are longer lived 
Observations on apple growing through. 
out the whole of this country show that 
the trees require for their best growth 
productiveness and longevity the follow. 
ing conditions: 
...Dummer cool, winter cold. 
...ich loams and clays. 
...bundant (air clear and cloudless). 
ven evesnsese Constant supply of humus and plant tood 
elevated regions for the commeicial grow- 
ing of hardy fruits. At present all along 
the eastern slopes and foothills of the 
Alleghany mountains, in Pennsylvania, in 
Maryland, in Virginia, in West Virginia 
and in North Carolina, lands which were 
formerly considered almost wouithless for 
agricultural purposes are now rapidly 
passing the mark of $100 per acre for 
commercial orcharding. 
W. N. Hurt, Raleigh, N. C. 
THE APPLE INDUSTRY 
In this section the statistics of the 
apple business are given, and a discus- 
sion of the general conditions of the in- 
dustry, by H. P. Gould of the U. S§S. 
Department of Agriculture. 
Production of Apples in the United 
States 
A statement of the general results of 
the 13th census relative to the number of 
farms reporting apple trees of bearing 
age and those not yet of bearing age, to- 
gether with the number of trees in each 
class as of April 15, 1910, and giving the 
number of bushels of apples produced in 
1909 and the value of the crop was issued 
May 10, 1912, by Director Durand, of the 
Bureau of the Census, Department of 
Commerce and Labor. Comparable data 
are given for 1900 wherever possible. 
Decrease in Number of Trees of 
Bearing Age 
At the census of 1900, taken as of June 
I, there were reported 201,794,000 apple 
