Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1916-09-23

The mammoth winter apple crop
of Berkeley county, just coming into
prime maturity. is attracting nation
wide attention among fruit dealers
who are here in numbers from all
points of the compass 1t is viewed
with interest by business men and
the press generally, as the following
written by staff representative of
the New York Produce News" will
show:
Martinsburg. w. Va, Sept 15-
Berkeley county, West Virginia, is
now beginning to market the finest
apple crop of its record of fine, large
crops. Like other sections of the
east, transactions involving the dispo-
sition of the fruit began somewhat
late, but not as late as elsewhere for
the reason that it was known six
weeks ago that the crop in this sec
ton was by far the best in the east,
and for the number of trees, the larg
est. At the convention at Niagara
Falls the display of fruit from the
Shenandoah Valley section attract
ed more attention than fruit from any
other eastern state, and took the
highest prizes. Growers from this
1lau aff ln
by the time the meeting was over
buyers of the country knew thor
oughly well. even if they had not
known before, that this was the place
to come for fine apples A consider
able number of buyers came direct
ly here from Niagara Falls.
Estimates of the size of the crop
in Berkeley county vary; a fair, con-
sentative estimate is 100000 bbls..
but this means more than the great
crop OF two years ago. for the rea-
son that the apples now are running
uniformly larger and the quality al
ways good here, is perhaps 20 per
cent ahead of any former season. The
fruit is clean. we'll formed and prac-
tically without blemish Two years
ago there We're a lot of small apples,
and last year Yorks, the staple crop
OF this county, were affected by ce-
dar rust. This year the closest scrut-
my does not disclose general defect;
the most captious critic cannot find
any fault with the fruit The earlier
varieties, Northwest Greetings, Maid
en- Blush, etc, were up to their usual
standard of excellence. The Grimes
Golden of this section, which is a
favorite in every market except New
York city Ian incomprehensible fact
which no New York merchant has ev-
er been able to EXPLAIN, is at its
best, and the yield is a full one The
other principal varieties, Ben Davis,
Staymen Winesap and Black Twig,
are full yield
In this county the great majority
OF trees are under 10 years of age.
Berkeley county is a new fruit grow
ing section compared with the coun-
ties north and south Of here, and this
is one reason for the uniform quality.
Some of the orchards throughout this
section show a marked increase of
production even over two years ago,
for the reason that so many trees
have only recently attained full ma
turity. For example, the Gold Nc
Kown, Busey and Buck Hill com
panies' property, among the largest
orchards in this county, this year
have about $4,000 barrels. against 3d.
600 barrels two years ago. Walter
w. Trout, treasurer of the companies.
says about 10000 barrels have been
disposed of-6.O00 barrels of Yorks
and 1000 barrels of Northwest Green
ings. About two-thirds OF the crop
disposed of were sold f. O. b., the
balance consigned and exported
Many new buyers have come into
this section, attracted by the fine
quality The impression seems to be
pretty general that buyers and sellers
are in a deadlock. This is not true
OF Berkeley county. Yorks are being
sold right along at $3.50 to $2.75, av-
aging probably s2.75. Grimes are Of
been selling largely $3.50 to So, aver
aging probably -2.75. Grimes are of
unusually fine size; not many as small
as 2 IL inches will be packed this
season. Northwest Greetings aver
aged about 1926 to the growers. Few
WEnesaps have been sold. The crop
or Winesaps and Staymens is yet to
have a value fixed. II goes without
saying that many buyers are waiting
10 get all varieties cheaper than the
prices here quoted, or else get the