Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-08
KEYSTONE APPLE
HASBIG FUTURE
State Agricultural Expert Says
That There Is a Chance
if 1t Is Cared For

Many acres of good Pennsylvania
land are now occupied by unprolit-
able apple orchards that return to
the owners scarcely one-fourth of
the value of an ordinary farm crop,
whereas by the application, at slight
cost, of. well-known remedies for
obstructive pests, the orchard crop
would be much more valuable than
amy ordinary farm crop on a sim
,ilar acreage.
Prof. j. G.. Sanders, Economic
fZoologist of the Pennsylvania De-
partment of Agriculture, who is
making a campaign for better Penn
sylvania apples, says:
Apple trees planted in orchard
arrangement will grow and ulti-
mately produce limited amount of
inferior fruit without care or atten-
ton, but no one could designate such
Il collection of unpruned, neglected
trees as a profitable undertaking.
The apple is the fundamental fruit
crop of this region which can be
picked, packed and marketed with
less haste and more deliberation
than any other of our large fruits
hence this crop can be protitably
produced farther from immediate
markets than other fruits.
Pennsylvania ranks second among
the states in quantity of apples
grown (New York leading), but in
market quality several other states
surpass this state. 1t has been esti-
mated that less than one-tenth of
Pennsylvania apples are grown in
commercial orchards, the main pro-
duction coming from farm orchards
of small to moderate size, few of
which are sprayed or receive even
moderate care. Pennsylvania with
over eight million population offers
the most admirable possibilities for
local markets, because no other
state contains so many towns and
cities of moderate size, evenly dis
tributed throughout its area, in ad-
dition to the great markets of Phil
adelphia and Pittsburgh.
THE average farm orchard ap-
piles coming to market badly de-
formed, wormy and scabby immedi-
ately lower the local prices of this
comm odity. so that they scarcely
return enough to the grower to war
rant picking and marketing. Fur
thermore the abundance of these
poor apples sets a low standard, and
the price offered by local dealers
for clean. perfect, sprayed fruit is
insufficient in proportion to quality
10 encourage the careful grower in
the local markets.
1T is a curious fact that most of
our commercial apple orchards pro-
ducing good fruit market their crops
outside of Pennsylvania, and our
local markets are supplied from
New York, Virginia, West Virginia
Maryland and the extreme western
states. Beautiful Pennsylvania
grown apples of the Grimes Golden
Stayman Winesap and Rome Beauty
varieties are shipped to other state
markets. to be replaced in our mar
kets by the less desirable Ben
\ Davis, Gano, an6 York Imperials
from adjoining sta IS, or by fancy
box grades from we. N~n orchards
An average crop lean. spray
ed apples from one +, ! of Il good
variety of trees in fur bearing will
return as much net profit as five
acres of wheat, corn or oats. yet
the farmer does not have time to
care for his orchard There are
many farm orchards, which, if prop
erly cared for, would return a larger
net profit than the remainder of the
farm.
Cooperative orchard spraying in
communities would solve many of
the questions which puzzle the aver
age owner of a farm orchard who
B does not possess a spray outfit and
is not inclined to advance sufficient
money for good equipment to
spray his large trees. Several small
orchards in a community would
warrant the cooperative purchase
of a spray outfit, or an agreement
to rent the orchards outright, or on
a percentage basis, to some person
experienced in pest control meth
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