The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-18
VIRGINIA BANK, BY
 BACKING FARMERS,
 LEADS AN INDUSTRY
Peoples National of CharIotteS- vile Financed 0rChardiStS. Today They Sell Apple Crops
 Four Years in Advance


 development of their communi- ties is strikingly brought out in an exhibit which 1 had the pleasure of viewing yesterday at the Tutwiler which exhibit was brought to Birmingham by J. Allen Wheat of Charlottes- vile, Va.
 The Peoples National bank of Charlottesville, knowing what the soil of it's vicinity could do for apple culture, financially backed it's farmer clientele, of Albermarle county in developing this money pro- ducing crop, the result of which foresight has been to make that
 part of Virginia the apple cen- ter of the world.
 How did I find this out? Listen In that big bunch of clever men who
 have been in attendance the past few days at the Prudential Life Insurance company, convention here, there is one
 man, LulS SdInt <AAACh " hSSNN' O- Charlottesville, who knows quite as much about apples" as he does about apples" as he does about how to cor
 ral a man and sell him an insurance
 policy.
 THE EXHIBIT
 Mir. Wheat brought his exhibition with him (apples-not what you are thinking about; he's a perfect gentle man and doesn't carry it in his nip pocket) and yesterday at the Tutwiler
 through him had the pleasure of mak- ing the acquaintance of all sorts and l conditions of adorable apples; long slender, svelte, figured apples; Tat squat, dumpy apples; apples with pale, creamy, complexions; apples painted like Jezebels; apples bloonde; apples | brunette apples brind1e: all of them | descendants of the r. F. V's (Flrst
 Families of Virginia'-but none so lovely as the best of them all-the | famous "Albemarle Pippins?'
 By the way, do you recall the little story told on the king of Belgium when he was here? It seems that on his l itinerary he went through that beauti- | fuI section of Virginia, where the ap- | ples grow, as they grow nowhere else 1 in the world. A county fair was be- 1 ing held, and one of the prettiest of the l I said: Your majesty. would you like to have a Pippin?" Turning red and I stammering audibly, the king said; ssh -h-h-: my wife will hear you! l But alas MT. Wheat's apples are not l that sort of "Pippinsr'
 Mir. Wheat, by the way, is the son oi 1 of the famous Leo Wheat whose name 1 to southerners is household word.
 FORMER NEWSPAPER MAN 1 Tall, handsome, charming, MT. Wheat who 1 san ex-newspaper man, having made an enviablbe reputation as one O the staff of "The New York Times ant | ''The New York Herald" some Is year ago went into the insurance business
 and during that time, in his home il I.Albemarle county, Virginia, he has hal time to become acquainted with Zap ples" of all kinds and descriptions. l tT never eat one of them," MT. Whea ] said yesterday. Like people who liv' 1 in Rome who have never visited St 1 Peter's, l suppose" he continued in hi
 deliciously lovely Virginia dialect I(yes--it is dialect the adorable wa, 1 they tallS) and my object in bringing 1 these samples of Albemarle Pippins t' | Birmingham is just to show all thes' | Prudential insurance men from ul l Newark way (and otherwise) that wha I've been telling them about Albemarl' apples is true. They are always guy l ing me (to speak in common parlance l about Albemarle Pippins, so jus brought little collection with me tt | prove that I haven't exaggerated theil beauty and their worth, one whit" 1 There's d lesson. too, a story-ir l this apple business" MT. Wheat con | tinued" and when I tell you that have | no ax to grind no apples to sell--I only I To orNy,1n o-I a1 l though my mother has superb place l near Winchester-you will probably bt | surprised but this is the point the vas | success of the apple crop of Albemarlt | county, Virginia, is due to one thing
 namely: How Banks Can Help Americs
 to Grow?"
 l Tn the 800 orchards=and I live righ in the midst of this wonderful spectacle in Charlottesville, l have seen the in
 dustry grow to it's present enormou: proportions through being financed by | a bank with a vsion--the Peoples Ma tional bank of Charlottesville. Thi.
 bank had a vision; 1t saw definit,
 margin of profit and backed up the ap pie proposition with all it's might ant | main. The result? Albemarle apples ar,
 not for sale; they are bought up fol l three and four years in advance: they are forld famous"
 BANKS WORK
 Take for instance this beautifu Albemarle Pippin," said MT Wheat a. he picked up superb specimen gorgeous green-just turning around the temples to yellow (not white
 This is the apple which is sent tc | Windsor Castle-50 barrels each year. l for their Majesties the King and Queer of England. Queen Victoria started tht 1 custom-the apples being bought by the British consul each year and sent to their destination. The apple is read, | for eating by February the first anc jfs regarded as the best apple in the | world. It turns to d beautiful luscious | yellow when it is entirely ripe. These | Albemarle Pippins are indigenous to 1 Virginia soil; of course, the Winesaps l and the Black Twigs will grow any l where; but the Albemarle Pippin--well | Lit is exclusive. All these apples by | the way grow within the shadow .oi | historic Monticello."
 l The Albemarle Pippin is an aris- tocrat," I broke in just here,"' and be-
 a Virginian that's why you are SC 1 partial while I--now, tell me abou,
 these darling little lady-like ones over here" I begged as l picked up dainty
 red and yellow specimen.
 Like painted ladies' Mir. Wheat 1 declared. too highly colored; rouged ! powdered; nothing natural about them, he announced as he dismissed then 1 with a sheer.
 l Any bank can make it's own sectior | successful in this sort of way" M- | Wheat declared, If it has the vision i, financing such an industry Is .Hou