36 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
THE APPLE IN COMMERCE 
Address to the Tennessee Horticultural Society at 
Nashville, December 9, 1919, by James Ilandly, 
Founder of National Apple Day, Quincy, Illinois. 
HE giving the apple its accredited position in the 
kingdom oi commerce causes some thought es¬ 
timation and conception oi what is possessed and 
governed in widely circulating courses m the realm oi 
commerce. It appears as tne chiei potent lorce lor 
carrying fruit of the soil as well as fruits of all other in¬ 
dustries, through courses and channels in supplying de¬ 
mands, that in turn send hack currents of coin contribut¬ 
ing to necessities and happiness in all communities. 
Starting in a slender way the commodities of com¬ 
merce lirst supply immediately local demands and then 
are carried over iron tracks, meeting wants of widely 
separated places and often go in courses crossing track¬ 
less oceans supply necessities to those living in far-away 
loreign climes. 
From planting of the apple trees until passing years 
bring golden harvests the apple appears as one of the 
strongest attractions, and a chief in the mighty forces of 
all industries radiating from and through courses of 
commerce. 
The amount of capital enlisted in the culture and pro¬ 
motion of the apple in commerce show figures that seem 
almost beyond conception. To commence with, in the 
country the value of land set apart for orcharding 
reaches values running into millions; then again in the 
countless nurseries for producing trees there are again 
millions of investments and millions again roll like grains 
of sand in different departments of service for growing 
apples; such as the various implements used for prepar¬ 
ing and cultivating soils in orchards; the kinds of labor; 
sprayers of all kinds and spraying mixtures for fight¬ 
ing and exterminating the countless hosts of orchard 
pests; the picking, packing, cost of barrels and boxes, 
hauling, freighting, cold storaging and insurance. The 
costs in commerce continue as seen in the large ware¬ 
houses, auto trucks, splendidly equipped offices of buy¬ 
ers and commission men; especial equipment by railroad 
companies and ocean going steamers in freighting the 
fruit as required for destined markets. 
Then there might arise the question is the apple of 
sufficient importance, bringing adequate returns for tre¬ 
mendous outlay of capital and imposed efforts in all de¬ 
partments of industry as indicated, and then given a 
shining position in the realms of commerce with coronet 
and crown as king of fruits? 
The most immediate attraction of the apple is found in 
its recognized supplying sources for good health. On the 
highest scientific authority it is declared that the energy 
of caloric value of a juicy Jonathan apple is equal to that 
derived from two-thirds of a glass of milk, or small plate 
of beans, a lamb chop, two-thirds cup of rice, a potato or 
two slices of bread. There is computed to be as much* 
energy in a pound of apple as there would be in fifteen 
cents worth of pork chop. 
And at even present high prices for food supplies 
apples form a cheaper source of energv than lean meat 
or milk. In fact pound for pound apples compare fav¬ 
orably with pure milk and contain a somewhat larger 
proportion of dry solids. If all the j uices were dried out 
of the apple and all of the water dessicated out of the 
apple the percentage of nutrient material in the apple 
would be slightly larger than that contained in milk 
costing the same price. 
It must be borne in mind however, that nutrient prop¬ 
erties in apples and milk or meat are of different natures 
fulfilling different functions in nutrition,—and no one 
form of nutrition should be excluded for another. Based 
on even present high prices there is greater economy in 
apples than there is in any other fruit and in most vege¬ 
tables. It therefore should be obvious from an economic 
standpoint apples constitute a source of food supply, 
which liberally used would reduce present high cost of 
living if apples were purchased in reasonable quantities 
by economical methods. 
llie scientilic searchings into the elements of appics 
lind showings of a very small percentage of protein or 
bunding material in apples it makes manifest that their 
most important lood value depends upon their bai^.. 
fruit sugars and fruit acids. The variation in such com¬ 
ponent parts of apples is carried by different growths oi 
the fruit character of soils and especially in the care tak¬ 
ing, fertilizing and cultivating the soils. Their flavor is 
due to what is termed malic acid combined with oils and 
substances drawn from the atmosphere. While apples 
grown in the far northwest may not possess the delicious 
tlavor so greatly relished by apple eaters, as apples grown 
in the Middle West, yet growing and developing in realms 
of super-abundance of sunshine and air, fruitage of trees 
growing in the wonderful volcanic ash soil, so favorable 
to the best development, they present the richest and most 
beautiful colorings and are sent into markets as finest 
qualities of fruit. The average composition of properly 
grown Jonathan apples show about four per cent of cane 
sugars and eight per cent of invert sugars which are 
mixtures of grape and fruit sugars and such grape and 
fruit sugars form a combination of digested cane sugars, 
sugars made palatable and enjoyable by their chemical 
composition. 
The whirligig of time has wrought great changes in 
the scope and science of growing apples. Far above and 
beyond the early customs of small orchards or a few 
apple bearing trees chiefly for family service, expands 
the large commercial orchards, covering hundreds, and 
in some instances thousands, of acres with well devel¬ 
oped trees, bearing fruit for domestic trade and in the far 
away foreign markets. These large orchards are sup¬ 
posed to be managed and directed by experts who appre¬ 
ciate the importance, and who no doubt catch the clarion 
calls for imperative necessity of increasing production. 
Some heed the calls and press orchard products to utmost 
limits. Then again it is to be regretted there are other 
growers who become listless and indifferent to require¬ 
ments for reaching success in orcharding and allow their 
trees to be an easy prey to all kinds of diseases and fruit 
tree pests and become noted in having for what should 
seem the saddest results in all walks of life, “the har¬ 
vest of barren regrets.” 
In 1896 the annual apple harvest in the United States 
reached returns of 69,000.000 barrels. There have been 
two or three of the passing years since that time when 
