FRUIT DEPARTMENT 
APPLES. 
The first fruit, both in importance and general culture, is the apple. Its period, unlike that of other 
fruits, extends nearly or quite through the year. By planting judicious selections of Summer. Autumn, 
and Winter sorts, a constant succession can be easily obtained of this indispensable fruit for family use- 
T here is no farm crop wich, on the average, will produce one-fourth as much income per acre as will 
a good apple orchard. As it takes from six to eight years for an orchard to come into bearing, some peo- 
ple hesitate to plant, regarding the time and expense in a great measure lost. In reply to this we would 
quote the remarks made by O. C. Chapman, of East Bloomfield, N. Y., to J. J. Thomas. He said he 
considered the yearly growth of each apple tree planted in his immense orchard of over one hundred and 
fifty acres, to be worth fully one dollar before they commenced bearing. He has had experience of nearly 
half a century, and he says that he considers this alow estimate. At fifty trees per^cre, this would make 
a yearly increase of value of fifty dollars per acre, which, no doubt, is quite within the mark. 
As fruit has become cheaper on account of the increased supply, a large and constantly increasing 
European export has sprung up which affords highly remunerative prices for the best selected specimens 
of our orchards, while the new process of “ Evaporation ” of fruit has become a recognized auxilary to 
the horticulture of the land. With immense consumption by this process of evaporation, it may be 
doubted if apple orcharding will ever in any season be less than highly remunerative. All the surplus of 
orchards— all 14 wind-falls ” and defective specimens can at once be gathered and sold at a fair price to the 
evaporating establishments which now exist in almost every town in all fruit-growing sections. 
If apples are planted at the rate of fifty trees per acre, rows of peach trees can be planted between the 
apples, which, growing more quickly than the apple trees, soon protect them from the winds, and thus are 
a great benefit to them. After eight or ten years of productiveness, as the space is needed for apples, the 
peach trees may be removed, leaving the orchard 'better for the protection, and at the same time having 
Yielded the planter a large return for his trouble. 
