Production.— The first attempt to obtain definite reports on the value of fruits produced in the United States was made by the 12th census in 1899. The total value of all classes of fruits produced in that year was $131,423,000. By 1909, the total value had increased to $218, 000,000 which was equivalent to about one-third of the value of the wheat crop of 1909. The value of all deciduous tree fruits in 1909 amounted to $140,867,000; small fruits, $29, 974,000; citrus fruits, $22,711,000; grapes, 027,000 ; subtropical and tropical fruits other than citrus, $1,995,000. Nearly four-fifths of the total value was contributed by apples, 38.3 per cent; peaches, 13.2 per cent; grapes, 10.1 per cent; strawberries, 8.2 per cent; and oranges, 8.1 per cent. Since 1909, the produc tion of most fruits has gradually increased and competition has become keener. At the same time fruit values have conformed to the gen eral upward trend in price of all commodities. As far as the commercial crop is concerned, the apple, the most important fruit grown in the United States, has been declining in pro duction for the past 20 years. The bulk of the apple crop was formerly grown in the general farm orchards in the Northeast. Many of these orchards have passed the prime of life, produce inferior fruit and are dying. Thus far, the large crops they formerly bore have not been replaced by the many young orchards planted in other sections.
The principal orchard fruits of Canada are the apple, peach, plum, pear and cherry. The leading small fruits are the grape, strawberry, currant and gooseberry. As in the United States, the apple is the most important fruit grown. The production of all orchard fruits in Canada in 1910 amounted to 12,565,000 bushels of which 10,618,000 bushels were apples. Ontario is the leading province in the produc tion of fruits, although apple orcharding has assumed some importance in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
The geographical distribution of the im portant fruits is considered in articles dealing with these fruits (see APPLE, etc.). From the standpoint of commercial production the lead ing apple States are New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri and Michigan; peaches, California, Georgia, Texas, New York, Alabama, Michigan and Pennsylvania; pears, California, New York and Michigan; plums, California, Oregon and Washington; cherries, New York, Washington, Wisconsin and Michigan; grapes, California, New York and Michigan; strawberries, Mary land, Delaware, Tennessee, Louisiana and Ar kansas. Raspberries are widely grown through out the northern half of the country. Limited commercial districts occur near large cities.
New York and Michigan produce large quan tities of raspberries for canning and drying. The loganberry, a blackberry-raspberry hybrid, originating in California, is now cultivated extensively in that State and Oregon for canning and drying. The principal citrus fruits grown in the United States are oranges, lemons and grapefruit. The cultivation of these fruits is largely confined to California and Florida. Limited quantities of oranges are grown in Arizona and in the Gulf Coast States. California produces about two-thirds of the oranges and practically all of the lemons. Florida produces about one-third of the oranges and most of the grapefruit. Of the smaller subtropical industries, pineapple growing is con fined to Florida, and the production of dried figs and olives to California. It is practically impossible to secure complete and comparable statistics on the fruit industries of the country as a whole, but from data largely obtained from the United States Bureau of Markets, it is conservatively estimated that it required 203,000 cars to move all classes of fresh fruits in 1917. Nowhere in the United States are all branches of commercial fruit growing centered to such an intensive degree as in California. This great region has a multitude of local climates, much variety of soil and rainfall, and physical conditions which strongly differentiate it from the remainder of the United States. With one or two exceptions, such as the grape fruit and pineapple industries of Florida, every commercial fruit industry in the country as a whole has been duplicated in California and many industries, such as lemon, Smyrna fig, olive and European grape growing have been al most localized there. If we except dried apples nearly all of the cured fruits are produced in California and about two-thirds of canned fruits. In 1917, California shipped from the State 24,340 cars -of fresh grapes, peaches, pears, plums, etc. The tommercial.citrus crop of California for the shipping season ended 1 Oct. 1917, was oranges, 46,447 carloads, and lemons, 7,914 carloads. The estimated production of dried fruits, including apples, apricots, figs, peaches, prunes, raisins and others was 341,100 tons, of which more, than two-thirds were prunes and raisins. California packed over 7,000,000 cases of canned fruit in 1917. In recent • years the citrus and pineapple industries in Porto Rico and the pineapple in dustry in Hawaii have developed rapidly. About $6,000,000 worth of canned pineapples were shipped from Hawaii to the United States in 1915. The same year Porto Rico shipped about $3,000,000 worth of pineapples, grapefruit and oranges to the United States.