98 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
ports is not included in the official statistics. For the fiscal year 
1817 the exports of 16,877 barrels averaged $2.50 per barrel. 
There was an increase to 68,776 barrels in 1818, the average ex¬ 
port price dropping to $2.25. In 1819 and 1820, annual exports 
of 8,253 barrels and 6,868 barrels, respectively, averaged $3 per 
barrel. By 1825, with exports of 32,354 barrels, the price had 
dropped to $1.66 per barrel, and in 1828, 13,839 barrels were in¬ 
voiced at $22,700, an annual export price of $1.15 per barrel, the 
lowest recorded since 1791. 
It is said that Queen Victoria was so pleased with a gift from 
(he American Minister of several barrels of Albermarle Pippins 
(Yellow Newtowns) grown in Virginia, during the first year of 
her reign, that she caused the import tax on apples to be remov¬ 
ed, which greatly stimulated the export trade from this country. 
Whatever the reason, the total exports of fresh apples to all 
countries rose from $344,952 for the decade ended 1830, prior to 
her reign, to $370,317 or air average price of $2 per barrel, for 
the 10 years ended 1840 and to 305,044 barrels, valued at $616,- 
273, averaging $2.02 per barrel, during the decade ended 1850. In 
the next 10 years 388,600 barrels, valued at $1,041,079, of $2.68 
per barrel, were exported. For the decade ended 1870 the tota± 
value of fresh apple exports reached $2,554,290; and for the 10 
years ended 1880 a further increase is shown to $5,847,016 at an 
average export price of $1 per bushel. In the decade ended 1890 
the total valuation was $13,973,770, and with one or two excep¬ 
tions the value for succeeding years is expressed in seven fig¬ 
ures, with only a slight upward trend in annual export values. 
From the pre-war calendar year 1913 figure of $3.80 per barrel 
for fresh apples to $8.45 in 1919 an increase of 122 per cent is 
shown in the average annual export price. 
Domestic prices quoted in the New York market on January 
24, 1920, on 14 leading varieties of Eastern apples ranged from 
$5 to $8 per barrel for Black Twigs and $4 to $6 for Ben Davis 
to $9 and $9.50 for Northern Spy and Greenings, respectively. On 
nine commercial varieties of Western apples the prices ranged 
from $2 to $3.75 per box. Figures given out by the United 
States Department of Agriculture quote an increase from August 
15 to the end of 1919 in the New York price of apples from $6.50 
per barrel to $8 and $8.50. 
Domestic Production. 
Apples ranked ninth in the list of farm crops of the United 
States in 1919, being exceeded in total value only by wheat, corn, 
cotton, oats, hay, potatoes, tobacco, and cotton seed. The total 
value of the apple crop was approximately equal to that of rice, 
rye, buckwheat, and flaxseed combined. 
According to the Bureau of Crop Estimates, Department of 
Agriculture, the total apple crop of the United States averaged 
for the years 1913-1917, 197,855,000 bushels, with a farm value on 
December 1 of $166,140,000, or $0.84 per bushel. In 1918 the pro¬ 
duction dropped to 169, 911,000 bushels and the farm value rose 
to $225,562,000, or an average of $1,328 per bushel. The crop in 
1919 shows a further decrease in quantity to 147,457,000 bushels, 
with a rise in the farm value to $275,463,000, or an average price 
of $1,868 per bushel. 
The commercial crop of 1919, 26,174,000 barrels, had an estim¬ 
ated farm value on December 1 of $154,950,000, or an average of 
$5.92 per barrel, as compared with corresponding figures for 1918 
of 24,743,000 barrels, valued at $126,684,000, or $5.12 per barrel. 
The 1919 commercial crop was a pleasant surprise in that it ex¬ 
ceeded all estimates based on early prospects, showing a gain 
of 1,431,000 barrels over the previous year and 3,544,000 barrels 
over 1917. 
Leading Apple Sections of the Country. 
In the States east of Colorado the commercial apple crop is 
packed in barrels, whereas in the western States of Colorado, 
Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Ore¬ 
gon, and California it is packed in boxes. Three boxes are 
equivalent to one barrel. The box section gained on the barrel 
section in 1919, furnishing nearly one-half the crop. In 1917 
western boxed apples formed about two-fifths of the total com¬ 
mercial crop of the United States. It is said that 31,734 railroau 
cars were used to move the 1919 apple crop from eight leading 
box States, as compared with 32,116 cars required in the barrel 
sections. The world-wide trade in western apples has been 
built up within the last quarter century. 
Scientific and intensive cultural methods; improved facilities 
for storage, distribution, and handling of commercial apples; 
and the modern machinery and factory methods for evaporating, 
desiccating, canning, and preserving have all tended to greatly 
increase in recent times the proportion of apples entering into 
the commercial crop as compared with the total production. 
Many apples still go to waste in noncommercial orchards 
throughout the country, although great quantities are canned or 
otherwise used in the home in making jams, jellies, marmalades, 
cider, vinegar, mincemeat, etc., besides the fresh eating apples 
stored for winter consumption. 
New York produces about one-fourth the normal commercial 
apple crop of the country. Its total apple crop had not been ex¬ 
ceeded by that of other States until recent years, when the State 
of Washington outrivaled it. In 1919 the total Washington crop 
amounted to 23,190,000 bushels and that of New York to 16,800,- 
000 bushels, as compared with 40,878,000 bushels for New York 
and 16,491,000 bushels for Washington in 1918. The States next 
in order and the total number of bushels of apples produced in 
each in 1919 were as follows; Virginia, 9,950,000; California, 8,- 
640,000; Pennsylvania, 7,972,000; Michigan, 6,484,000; Missouri, 
5,773,000; Illinois, 4,943,000; Maine, 4,680,000; Idaho, 4,350,000; 
Arkansas, 4,250,000; West Virginia, 3,478,000; Colorado, 3,418,- 
000; Massachusetts, 3,240,000; and considerable though smaller 
amounts from all the other States, with the exception of Nevada, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, where climatic conditions 
are not so favorable to apple growing. Commercial crops in 
Texas and South Carolina are quite small, as a rule. 
Varieties Produced in Different Regions. 
Although apples are produced in great variety in all the States 
and grown extensively on a commercial scale in all save Nevada 
and a few cf the States far south, certain great regions are fam¬ 
ous for particular species. 
The Baldwin is the most widely produced, forming 13.4 pei 
cent of a normal crop of all apples in the United States and 31.3 
per cent of the New York State crop. Its nearest rival, the Ben 
Davis, constitutes 13.3 per cent of a normal average crop for the 
country and is perhaps brought to greatest perfection in the 
Ozark region, locally known as “the land of the big red apple.” 
Its size, beauty, and keeping qualities make it a commercial fav¬ 
orite, particularly in British markets. Other varieties, the Deli¬ 
cious, for example, grown in the same region but less well 
known abroad, not only match the Ben Davis on these points 
but excel it in fragrance, texture, and flavor. 
In the western New York region in 1918, Rhode Island Green¬ 
ings formed 20 per cent and Baldwins 40 per cent of the commer¬ 
cial crop of that State, estimated at 42,000 carloads. In the 
Hudson River Valley region, of less importance than western 
New York, the Baldwin is the leading variety. The Michigan- 
Illinois region, like New York, has large plantings of Baldwin 
and Rhode Island Greenings. The New England Baldwin belt 
extends through Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. 
The Shenandoah-Cumberland and Piedmont regions have been 
famous since colonial days, the latter being the home of the 
Albemarle Pippin, which was cultivated by Thomas Jefferson at 
Monticello before the Revolution. The York Imperial and Ben 
Davis predominate in the Shenandoah Valley. 
In both the Ozark and the Missouri River regions (the latter 
extending up through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska) 
are found the Ben Davis, Winesaps, Jonathans, Ganos, Grimes 
Golden, and other popular varieties. 
Washington and California Lead Western States, 
The fame of the western irrigated apple sections has gone 
around the world in the past 10 years. In 1917 the State of 
Washington passed New York as the heaviest commercial apple- 
producing State in the Union, showing 20 per cent of the total 
commercial crop of the United States. The Wenatchee and 
Yakima Valleys shipped more than 16,000 cars of apples in that 
year. Of the Western States, California is second in import¬ 
ance, with its highly productive plantings of Yellow Newtowns 
and Bellflowers; followed by Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado, all 
three about equally productive. The famous Hood River region 
of Oregon grows Yellow Newtown, Spitzenberg, Delicious, and 
other kinds in great perfection and quantity. 
In southern Ohio is the famous Rome Beauty region, and many 
noted mountain sections from the Champlain district in New 
York and Vermont to the Brushy Mountains of North Carolina 
and the orchards of northern Georgia add materially to the 
apple crop. 
The extensive demand for American fruit in British markets 
includes nearly all the commercial varieties of apples, but Ore¬ 
gon Newtowns, Spitzenbergs, Jonathans, and Ben Davis are es¬ 
pecially popular. 
Prior to the war about 10 per cent of the normal commercial 
crop was exported. Although increased population has stimulat¬ 
ed the domestic demand for apples among all classes, with the 
further elimination of waste and improved methods of market¬ 
ing and distribution, there is no reason why the commercial crop 
should not be increased to provide not only for home consump¬ 
tion, but to greatly extend the market for American apples 
abroad. 
