The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-06-29
THE BIG RED APPLE IN
NEW ENGLAND
Frank G. Carpenter Tells of Its Vast
Possibilities In Boston Sunday
Globe.

write of the big red apple 1t Is
creating almost as much trouble for
us as did that into which Mother Eve
at the advice of the snake, sank her
pearly teeth when she lost the Gar
den of Eden. 1t Is more precious than
the three golden apples which grew
in the garden OF Hesperides, and for
which Hercules upheld the globe on
| his shoulders when he sent old Atlas
to get them. That was the second
time that the apple upset the world.
A third was when Juno, Venus and
Minerva contended as to their beauty
for the golden apple offered by Paris,
the CRATER, who, being bribed by
Venus with Helen Of Troy, thus
brought about the long 10-year war
which laid that city In ashes.
BIG MONEY IN APPLES.
Even the Bible speaks of apples OF
gold in pitchers OF silver. Well, that
| iS Wudt we dIe udFlH6 III SOhio pa 70
OF our country. The apple crop Is
revoutionizing whole districts. 1t
has lifted the prices of lands to the
clouds and has made it possible for
the clod-hopper to walk upon velvet.
What would you think of a country
where nearly every farmer owns his
automobile, where his house is light
ed by electricity and he has water on
tap, where scores go every year to
southern California to get away from
the cold and where you cannot throw
stone without striking a man who
has money in the bank? That, | am
told at the department OF agriculture,
is the condition of half dozen diff
| ferent districts in the Pacific north
west
Take the Hood river valley In Ore
gon, where the apples and pumpkins
are about the same size, Orchard
land there Is worth from $500 to $1,000
an acre, and orchards already set out
will bring $4,000 and upward per acre.
Said one of the department officials to
ME:
81 was recently talking with an
orchardist who had 10 acres OF bear
ing trees in one Of the best districts
of Washington. l asked him what his
land was worth. He replied:
at ought to bring me in at least
$4,000.
"'Well, said I, after thinking a mo-
ment I don't know that that is too
much. You have 10 acres. and that
would be just $1,000 an acre.
But ! mean $4,000 per acre said
the man. 1T will bring a good in
come on that and leave a fair sinking
fund And thereupon he took out
his pencil and showed me that he
was making big percentage on his
own valuation.
The old reliable apple country OF
| the United States Is northern New
York. 1t has been producing large
crops of fine fruits for years, and
with modern spraying and improved
cultivation it is now yielding more
than ever. Representative apple buy
ers of the country have annual meet
ings at Niagara Falls, where they ar
range the management of this crop,
and whether it is big or little largely
affects the market prices all over the
country.
New England is raising a great
deal of apples. This is especially so
of southeastern Maine and some
parts of Massachusetts, Vermont and
New Hampshire. The most of the ap-
Piles from that region are baldwins.
Among the new movements there is
the renovation of old orchards after
methods laid down by the department
of agriculture. A large number of
abandoned farms have been made pro-
fitable by the rejuvenation of the old
apple orchards through trimming and
cultivation.
WILL MARKET BE GLUTTED?
Stories similar to these are known
to all who have any acquaintance
with the apple regions of the United
States, They are founded on present
conditions and are the cause of the
enormous extent to which new or
chards are being planted all over the
country, Many of the government
clerks at Washington are investing
In orchard schemes. Some Of the fruit
experts of the agricultural depart
ment have their independent orchards,
and not few of Uncle Sans employ
ees have gone into the business and
are making good.
At the same time apple lands are
being exploited, as orange lands
were some years ago, and syndicates
are formed to manage orchards at
fixed price per acre or tree. The
planting Is very extensive and this Is
especially 80 in the Pacific northwest
and in Virginia, West Virginia and
Maryland. 1t Is also true of the 9TH
er apple regions, although to minor
extent.
Last year, am told, the shipments
OF apples from the Washington, Ore
gon and Idaho regions amounted to
10000 carloads, and moreover when
the trees that are now being planted
come into bearing, say 10 years from
now, there will be from that region
more than 10000 carloads. The most
OF these shipments 90 in boxes, but
I venture carload Of barrels would
contain about the same number Of APP
pies. At 200 barrels to the car,
which Is an average shipment In the
East have myself shipped 900 bar
rels In one car---this 100000 carloads
would equal 100000 barrels of ap-
Piles. This 70 tho potential product
10 years from now of the Pacific
northwest and that part OF the coun-
try produces a comparatively small
portion. of our total crop.
Now within the past 10 years, the