8 



APPLES AND PEACHES IN" THE OZARK REGION. 



The statistics in Table I are largely self-explanatory, as they 

 plainly show the numerical increases and decreases in the several 

 periods to which they apply. The cause of the decrease in the number 

 of apple trees in Missouri and Oklahoma in the decade from 1900 to 

 1910 will become apparent in the discussions which follow; but the 

 figures relating to Missouri apparently do not show the full extent 

 of the decrease, as it is commonly said that for several years following 

 1900 the planting of fruit trees, especially apple trees, was fully as 

 rapid as at any previous period. The statistics for 1900, therefore, 

 do not show the maximum number of trees of bearing age which 

 existed in the Missouri portion of the Ozarks during the decade follow- 

 ing the Twelfth Census. 



It would perhaps be difficult to ascribe to definite influences the 

 rapid expansion of fruit culture in this region, especially in Missouri 

 and Arkansas, during the period from 1890 to 1900. Without 

 doubt, however, an influence which contributed largely to the early 

 impetus in the planting of apples was the very satisfactory prices 

 obtained in the late eighties for the abundant crops produced on the 

 comparatively small number of trees then in bearing. This was a 

 period when there were relatively light crops of fruit in the older 

 apple-producing sections of the East. Once given the impetus, the 

 rapid growth is not difficult to explain. During the years of most 

 rapid development the fruit-growing possibilities of the Ozark region 

 were widely advertised, not only in this country but also abroad. 



The distribution of the apple and peach trees of bearing age in the 

 Ozark region by counties, as shown in the Thirteenth Census (1910), 

 is indicated in Table II. 



Table II. — Number of apple and peach 1 trees of bearing age in the Ozark region, by 

 counties, as shown by the Thirteenth Census. 



ARKANSAS. 



County. 



Apple. 



Peach. 



County. 



Apple. 



Peach. 



County. 



Apple. 



Peach. 



Baxter 



Benton 



Boone 



Carroll 



Cleburne 



Conway 



Crawford 



41,590 

 2,465,870 

 233.102 

 225, 6S6 

 37,886 

 95,673 

 160, 726 

 30,958 

 73, 793 

 53,813 

 27,725 

 25,114 



46,270 

 536. 208 

 161,368 

 95,100 

 45,295 

 74, 833 

 603,683 

 67,373 

 168,053 

 138, 145 

 41.580 

 52, 664 



Izard.. 



Johnson..... 



Logan 



Madison .... 



Marion 



Montgomery 



Newton 



Perry 



Pike 



Polk 



Pope 



Pulaski 



39, 280 

 144,352 

 113,401 

 397,155 

 35,299 

 25.677 

 83,095 

 8.238 

 36.887 

 143,554 

 113,157 

 25,330 



60, 751 



321,560 



162,210 



68,143 



40,923 



45,420 



54,906 



20,843 



179.126 



138,034 



122, 524 



44,243 



Saline 



Scott 



Searcy 



Sebastian... 



Stone 



VanBuren.. 

 Washington. 

 Yell 



33,414 



42,469 

 90, 453 

 93,059 

 63,850 

 130, 634 

 1,793,645 

 29,018 



56, 153 



69,606 



83, 205 



419,561 



39,876 



61,037 



245,187 



145,069 



Franklin 



Fulton 



Garland 



Hot Spring.. 



Total.. 





6,913,903 



4,408,952 



275 



See footnote (2) to Table 1. 



