Horse culture has in a great measure succeeded hand culture. Without such a change it would be impossible to profitably cultivate the vast stretches of orchards, vineyards, and berry-fields that are to-day found in many parts of the country. The common plow and harrow were about the only tools available thirty or forty years ago. They are now supplemented, and in some cases superseded, by various kinds of cultivators, weeders, and improved plows and harrows. They are made to carry out the modern idea of frequent but shallow stirring of the soil. This method of culture disturbs the roots but little and retains the moisture in the soil, by keeping the surface finely pulverized, thus forming a “dust mulch.” Some of these tools are so made as to enable one man with one horse to easily cultivate twenty-five acres per day, and with a two or three horse implement, to thoroughly pulverize the surface over fifty or more acres in that time.
The tendency during the last half century has been towards heading orchard trees lower. The old style was to have them with trunks so tall that a horse could walk under the branches. Low heads have the advantage of giving the winds less purchase upon the roots, the fruit is more easily gathered, and the sun is less likely to scald the trunks.
The old idea of our forefathers was, that apples were chiefly to be used for making cider, peaches for brandy, and grapes for wine. We have become a nation of fruit-eaters, as compared with our predecessors and the Europeans. The greatest impetus ever given to American fruit culture came from the increased demand in our own country for fresh fruit. It is a staple article of diet here, rather than a luxury, as it is in most parts of Europe. Nearly all of our fresh fruits are consumed in the homes of our people, or exported. A very little is made into cider, brandy, or wine, and the larger part of the remainder is dried or canned. The proportion of grapes made into wine east of California is trifling, while there it is considerable. The enormous production and consumption of berries of various kinds by the Americans is unparalleled in the history of the world; and nearly all of this has come through the development of our wild berries.
Instead of buying largely of foreign fruits and their products, except such as are strictly tropical and cannot be grown within our borders only in a limited way, we have nearly stopped their importation, and have, in turn, become exporters. The rapid increase in our population demands more and more fruit, and it is not to be wondered at that our imports of oranges and lemons is increasing; but if it was not for our home production of these fruits the present amount would be more than doubled. Our raisins and dried prunes have almost driven out the foreign products, and their quality is so good that there is a growing demand for them in England and some other foreign countries. The same is true of our canned and preserved fruits. Our apples bring the highest price of any that reach the markets of Europe, and the demand for them is increasing. Fresh pears and peaches have also been sent to England in limited quantities from as far west as California and Oregon. Our oranges also have an enviable reputation there because of their beauty and delicious flavor. Our apples are sent to Mexico, China, and Japan. The street venders of Bombay, India, cry their sale with great gusto: “American apples! true American apples!” and sell them at a price which would require more than a whole day’s wages of a good workman to buy a single one.
The world is beginning to know the value and goodness of our fruits. We are selling, inside their dainty skins, a portion of our sunshine and water; for the golden, pink, and crimson tints are from the glowing sun, and the water, which is the main part of all fruits, is fresh from nature’s fountain.
Growth of Apple Culture.—From the first settlement of the country well into the present century, the principal purpose for which apples were cultivated in America was to make cider. This was a common beverage in England and on the continent of Europe, whence our forefathers came. Here they introduced the Old World custom of drinking hard cider “in season and out of season.” In 1721, in one “town” near Boston, wherein lived about forty families, there were made in one year three thousand barrels of cider, and in another of two hundred families, near ten thousand barrels. This is fifty barrels to the family, which seems ample for a great many drinks per day for each person, with plenty left to sell to the cider-loving citizens of Boston. Colonel John Taylor of Virginia wrote, in 1813, nearly one hundred years later: “The apple will furnish some food for hogs, a luxury for the family in winter, and a healthy liquor for the farmer and his laborers all the year.”
But hard cider did not always satisfy. “Applejack,” which is the strongest kind of brandy, suited the taste of many of the old-fashioned folk much better. The Virginia gentleman, the Dutch burgher, whose ample acres fronted upon the Hudson, the solemn Philadelphia Quaker and the staid Puritan of New England, all loved their dram and took it frequently.
Besides alcoholic liquors, vinegar was made in considerable quantities. But as late as the middle of this century there was scarcely a good family apple orchard to be found, such as we now have, with varieties arranged to ripen from early to late. Nor were there many commercial orchards of consequence. The famous orchard of Robert L. Pell, in Ulster County, New York, was a remarkable exception. It consisted of 20,000 trees, all of the Yellow and Green Newtown apples. Fruit from this orchard sold at wholesale in London, England, in 1845, at the enormous price of $21.00 per barrel, but the next year the price had fallen to $6.00 in New York city, ready for foreign shipment. This orchard gradually fell into decay, and was not soon followed by others of so large acreage. The Newtown apple proved unsuitable for general culture, and is now grown only in two localities with much success. In the mountain “coves,” or sheltered slopes and valleys, of the Blue Ridge, in Virginia and North Carolina, where it is called “Albemarle Pippin,” there are many orchards that produce as fine fruit as any from the Pell orchard, and it now sells from $5.00 to $12.00 and more per barrel in England. In the higher foothills of California and Oregon this variety does equally well, and apples from there are being sold in England during this closing period of the century at almost fabulous prices.
In the old days, if an orchard furnished an abundance of apples for cider, brandy, vinegar, apple butter, some for drying, and a few of fair quality that would keep for winter use, it was all that was expected.