Excerpt from The 1934 Agricultural Outlook for California: Contribution From the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics

Although there was a net decrease of 46 per cent in the total number of apple trees in the United States between 1910 and 1930, only a moderate decline in production occurred. During the past five years, total produc tion averaged only 11 per cent below the 1909 - 1913 level and only 24 per cent below the peak period of production, 1914 - 1918. The smaller decline in production, as compared with tree numbers, is due primarily to the shift that has taken place from farm to commercial orchards with better locations, and to the increasing bearing capacity of many trees as they have approached or reached full-bearing age.

During the past twenty years, production of apples in the 11 Pacific Coast and mountain states increased about 195 per cent. At the same time the number of bearing trees increased 10 per cent, and yield per bearing tree increased from an average of bushels to about bushels. In these western states production now is apparently close to its peak for the present cycle. In the Pacific Coast states as a group, only a very small percentage of the trees is yet to come into bearing, but pro duction as a whole is being fairly well maintained by tree resets and by an increase in producing capacity of trees due to an advance in their age.

Plantings in the western apple states have been very light in recent years. Commercial orchards in the better districts are generally well cared for, but in the poorer fruit districts neglect has been noticeable. Low prices of apples in eastern markets during the past three years have been reflected by sharp declines in returns to western growers, since transportation charges, which have remained almost constant, have absorbed an increasing proportion of the prices paid by consumers. This has made it difficult for western growers to compete successfully with producers near the large consuming centers.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.