Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-20
AMERICAN APPLES

the Cultivation of Fruit in Europe. The United States is largely increas- ing its lead among apple growing | countries. The trees producing this 1 fruit are reckoned, in the latest statis- 1 tics at not less than 200000,0 900; 1 and as the crop in a good year is | estimated at about 176,0OOyOO0 bushels, 1 it is enough bo allow every man, wo-
 man and child in the union two bush | els apiece for individual consumption,
 and to leave 100000 bushels for. ex- portation. More than four-fifts of this l great quantity come from sixteen states, for either a very hot or very cold climate is unfavorable to the ap- l pie. In the Old World it grows about as far north as Trondhjem, in Norway,
 and even further south than the Med- | iterranean. But in the one case late fr0sts often destroy the hopes of 8 crop; in the other. as in all the hotter countries, the fruit is small and poor compared with that of temperate cli- ma tes.
 New York, we are told. is now at the head of apple-prod states, with a yield of over 24.O0O,OOO bushels. PenDyslvania running it hard, and Ohio though ten years ago it headed
 the list, coming in rather bad third; the rest are comparatively nowhere. California at present is only fifteenth, but no doubt it's planters take com-l fort from the fact that in the total val ue of it's orchard products, more than $14,500,000. it is first of all the states. That position it owes to its pears and plums, grapes and oranges. But the apple orchards alone in America have increased surprisingly, for there are now considerably over efghty-one and half millions of trees more than there were ten years ago, so that at the present time fifty-fve
 out of every hundred orchard trees bear apples. Much of the fruit expor-
 ted finds its way to English markets,
 where it co1npetes not only with the
 home grown stock, but also with Cana
 dian produce. for Ontario alone has
 over six and three quarter millions
 of trees, which generally yield nearly
 fourteen and a half million bushels,
 France also sends fair quantity
 across the channel, and the antipodes,
 with their contrary seasons, help inI
 maintaining the supply. ! There is a greater variety now than
 formerly but there has been less i'm
 provement during the last half centuryI i'll the apple than in the pear. We dol not forget that Thackeray regretfuilyI remarked: 'sThey make no such janl-l tarts nowadaysas they did when wasI a boy" but do we get quite such Rib- f stone pippins as there used to be? And
 if America ripens such Newton apples as were sent. packed in casks with
 sawdust, to this country in the forties,
 she keeps them for home consumption.
 Possibly the apple has been neglected for other produce of the orchard, for ab ovo usgu at1 mala would now be | noamore true of the end than of the
 beginning of dinner
 Yet. this fruit like all artiffcially de-
 veloped varieties requires attention. And as its varities number at leastl two thousand even in these islands, | and some of the most noted kinds can be traced back for q few centur- ies degeneration is possible. But the apple well deserves care. for it has
 many uses, and. according to old writ
 CTS. many virtues. The former every one. knows not forgetting The biffins of Norfolk and the cider of Hereford shire and Devon or of Normandy and Brittany. Even those who disnaragel this IQuor and remark that vinegar can also be made from apples. must
 admit the beauty of the blossom,
 which sllrpasses in it's tIelicately grad uated tints the more uniform white of the pear and cherry
 a But to appreciate the app1ess high CT virtues we must % to an old au-l thor like Gerarde. These merits the nre brings out. for roasted apples. he tells us. are better than raw: and then. besides being good as febrifuges and for all other inniammations or hot swellings, they inter into the compost ton of that wholesome beverage call ed lambs wool. They can be also used as a cosmetic, for the pulD Of apples
 mixed with rosewater and "swine's grease" is used to beautifiy the face'' Not q few persons even now have suchl confidence in the healthiness of malicl acid that they will actually take raw apple as a might cap. ."-London Stan
 T