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Important commercial sections also are found in the 
North Central States, notably in the lake and river valley 
regions of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin* 
In the east, in addition to those already discussed, 
commercial growing districts are located in Pennsylvania, 
West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, North Car¬ 
olina, and the famous Baldwin belt in New England* 
While the apple has been grown in America for the 
past three centuries yet it was not until the middle of 
the nineteenth century that it was recognized as a food 
product of commercial importance. It was during the years 
1860 to 1875 that most of the commercial plantings were 
made in New York, 1885-1895 in Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
1890-1800 in the Ozarks and the prairie states, and 1900 
to 1910 in the western states. Very few important plant¬ 
ings have been made since 1910* 
These numerous plantings when taken collectively 
reached their maximum bearing during the decade from 1810 
to 1920 when the total production in the United States in¬ 
cluding the crop from the farm orchards averaged nearly 
200,000,000 bushels annually. The 1914 crop was the 
_ 000 
largest on record totaling over 253,000/bushels, with the 
1920 crop second, amounting to more than 240,000,000 bush¬ 
els* Because of the small plantings during 1910-1920 it 
is not expected that these yields will be greatly exceeded 
during the next decade. It is possible, however, with the 
many orchards in the far west only coming into maximum 
production that the record commercial crop of 1920 may be 
exc ceded* 
