The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-06-22
APPLE GROWING IN VERMONT
Prospects and Outlook for the Pres
ent Season.

weather prevailing until nearly the
close of the blossoming season, there
is good prospect for large crop of
apples in Vermont Growers are en-
thusiastic and are greatly pleased
with the abundance of bloom for this
year. Abundant rains toward the
close of the dry summer last season
promoted soft growth late in the year
and growers were apprehensive OF
much winter injury. but notwith-
standing the long and severe cold dur
ing the last winter apple trees have
come through wonderfully we'll ami
there is every indication of an abun-
dant trees, like the cherry and some
varieties of the plum were slightly
injured, but only where serious In
jury resulted from the protracted
drouth last year.
Vermont's Two Industries
The apple and strawberry indus
tries are the only ones in the fruit
line of commercial Importance in Yer
mont Although the thirteenth
United States census shows that dur
ing the last decade there has been
considerable reduction in apple tree
population of the State, amounting to
about 16 per cent, yet in all fairness
to the Green Mountain State II must
be said that these figures are some
what misleading. No one should
doubt the general accuracy OF the cen
sus figures, yet any one who is at all
familiar with the conditions in the
State knows that there has been
tremendous amount of planting since
the census figures were collected. Al
though there are no very definite
figures for the whole State, ii is I'M
that the apple tree area has been in
creased about one-third during the
last two years, including the present
seasons planting. A particularly in
teresting and encouraging thing
about the industry in Vermont is the
fact that apple tree planting and ap-
pie orcharding in general are not con
fined TO narrow strip in the Cham.
plain valley or to portions of the Con-
necticut valley, but the back towns
and hill farms are realizing now more
keenly than ever before the opportu-
mites offered in the planting and
maintenance of good apple orchards.
The people have been thoroughly
awakened by the campaign carried
on by the Vermont State Horticultur.
al society. farming trains, the college
OF agriculture and other agencies for
agricultural betterment, the publica-
ton of popular bulletins by the State
commissioner of agriculture and the
farmers institutes, where attention
has been paid to fruit growing posi-.
bilities and problems.
Commercial orcharding
The present trend OF industry is
distinctly commercial. Many old
farm orchards have gone out never to
be replaced, but in place of these old
family orchards larger and more dis
tinctly commercial orchards are be-
ing planted in every county of the
State. and one might almost say in
every town. The remarkable sue
cess attained with the one hundred
acre apple orchard OF C. T. Holmes,
Charlotte, VT. has attracted the at.
tention of fruit growers in the East
For four years now the returns have
been in excess of $4,000 for this
plantation. and its continued success
has demonstrated beyond question
the possibility of commercial orchard
ing in the State. few instances
taken here and there will illustrate
this general trend A single orchard
in Bennington contains eighteen
thousand trees. A fifty-acre orchard
in Grand Isle and thirty to forty-acre
orchards in Waterville, in the vici.
nifty OF Brattleboro. Bellows Falls.
Randolph and East Corinth show the
general distribution and scale OF or
charding which are coming to the
front in the State. The only real
question connected with this large
scale of planting is whether the peo-
pie will properly care for the trees.
II is interesting TO note that the plant
ings in Vermont probably differ ma.
terially from those In many sections
OF the country. because they are to be
managed by men OF business training
and foresight. In nearly every in
stance the manager has a complete
system for managing the land by
which he hopes to get returC-, from
the start, either by interplanting or
by the use OF vegetables and small
fruits.
The Growers Problems.