APPLES 85 
time The significance of this fact is 
of the greatest importance. A 69,000,000- 
barrel crop of apples now, with the pres- 
ent storage capacity, would be a very 
different matter from the “over-produc- 
tion standpoint” that it was when cold 
storage was in its infancy. 
Then, too, transportation facilities are 
constantly being extended and improved. 
This makes it possible to reach new mar- 
kets. And as a matter of fact, very many 
domestic markets are now well supplied 
with native-grown fruit which ten or fif- 
teen years ago had never had a consign- 
ment of fruit shipped to them. Con- 
sumers in vast numbers have been form- 
ing the fruit-eating habit, and habit once 
formed is hard to break if the means of 
continuing it can be made available. 
In addition to an increasing fruit-con- 
suming people at home, the export mar- 
kets are an important factor in this mat- 
ter of over-production, though their im- 
portance is because they serve as sort 
of a “safety valve” for market conditions. 
The quantity of apples exported in any 
one season in relation to the quantity 
produced in any ordinary year is so small 
that the influence of the export trade can 
hardly be due to the number of barrels 
shipped abroad. 
Up to and including the year 1908, the 
million-barrel export trade was reached 
only twice prior to 1903. The first time 
was in 1881, when 1,117,009 barrels were 
sent abroad. The second time was in 
4897, when 1,500,000 barrels were ex- 
ported. From 1903 to 1908, inclusive, 
more than a million barrels were exported 
each year, the maximum quantity on rec- 
ord being in 1904, when the export trade 
exceeded 2,000,000 barrels. A million bar- 
rels of apples shipped abroad in any sea- 
Son out of a crop of 30,000,000 to 40,- 
000,000 produced is only a very small part 
of the crop. Yet with the export mar- 
kets open even for quantities that are 
small in comparison with the totals, the 
pressure at home may be greatly relieved. 
In this same line of argument we 
Should not forget our constantly and rap- 
idly increasing population. A million and 
a quarter of immigrants coming to Amer- 
ica every year will consume some of our 
surplus apples if we only get them to the 
markets and within their reach. This in- 
crease amounted to 21 per cent during 
the decade 1900 to 1910. The people who 
make up this increase are helping to make 
a market for some of the fruit produced 
on the 68 per cent increase in the number 
of bearing apple trees trom 1890 to 1900. 
H. P. GouLp 
Fifteenth Aunual Session Vermont Horticultural 
Society. 
APPLE ORCHARD 
Selection of the Site 
In selecting the site on which to plant 
an apple orchard, several things should 
be kept in mind. These various requi- 
sites may be discussed under the gen- 
eral heads of Soil, Climate and Market 
conditions. By soil conditions we mean 
all those factors which affect balance of 
ration, physical condition, drainage, fer- 
tility, ete. By climatic conditions is 
meant those factors which have to do with 
temperature, such as elevation; proximity 
to large bodies of water, air drainage; 
exposure to sun; prevailing winds: soil 
erosion; frost conditions, etc. 
Soil Depth 
The first and most important soil con- 
dition is depth. Apple and pear trees live 
longer and grow to be larger than peach, 
plum and most other classes of fruit 
trees. They will, therefore, need a root 
system large enough to support the large 
trunks and tops which they will have 
when they come to be old 
In Southern New Mexico there are ap- 
ple trees large and healthy, but the fruit 
is not of good quality, which were planted 
by the Spanish missionaries 300 years 
ago. There is an apple tree at Vancou- 
ver, Wash. (see Fig. 1, History of Apple), 
which is said to be 87 years old, having 
been grown from seed planted about the 
year 1825 or ’26. There is a pear tree 
near Bloomington, IJl., of the variety 
called the Suddith, which is more than 
100 years old, and has been used within 
the last few years largely for grafting 
purposes because of its tendency to long 
life. 
These facts prove to us the importance 
of selecting a deep soil for apples and 
