Export During the past 15 or 20 years the-United States has developed a big business in fruits with other countries. The exports consist of dried and canned fruits as well as fresh apples, oranges and pears. Ex ports of all fruits during the year ended 30 June 1900, amounted to $11,486,000. By the year ended 30 June 1914, fruit exports had increased in value to $31,030,000 and for the year ended 30 June 1917, to $37,652,000. The fruit imports for the same years are: 1900, $16,2E4,000; 1914, $33,638,000; 1917, $25,315,000. Bananas and lemons comprise more than half of the imports. The balance is made up of dried currants, grapes, raisins, figs, olives, pineapples, dates and other fruits. The war has created an active demand for exports of canned and dried fruits, but has curtailed im ports of fruits of all kinds. The principal fruit exported from Canada is apples. An average of 1,242,000 barrels annually, valued at $3,626,000. was exported during the five years ended 31 March 1913. During this same period, Canada's annual fruit imports amounted in value to about $10,000,000.
Cultural In the early days when fruit had no financial standing as a crop, the farm orchard or plantation was given indiffer ent care at the best. With the rise of com mercial fruit growing this condition has rapidly changed. Cultural practices, specially adapted to large area planting, have been evolved. The extent to which these practices are em ployed in certain regions varies largely with the relative importance of fruit growing and other agricultural pursuits. Men who make fruit growing their main pursuit 'have been quick to adopt methods that enhance the pros pects of a good annual crop. Modern practice calls for just as thorough a preparation of the soil before planting fruit trees as is given other farm crops. The soil should be stirred deeper, because the main roots are to establish them selves some distance beldw the surface. The best planting conditions are secured when the land is occupied by a fertilized and cultivated crop the year before the trees are planted. As a rule solid plantings of the same kind of fruit are more easily, managed, and will be more successful than mixed plantings of differ ent fruits. On the other hand it is safer to include -several 'commercial varieties of the same fruit in a planting because most varieties yield better when pollinated by another variety than when self-pollinated. In most situations fruits will thrive best when tilled or cultivated than when grown in sod. There is rarely enough moisture for both trees and grass. For this reason grain crops should not be grown between the rows. In order to reduce the cost of developing an orchard, cultivated crops may be grown for a few years, provided they are well fertilized and neither the crop nor the necessary preparation of the land interferes with the ever-extending tree roots. Frequent light tillage from early spring until midseason conserves moisture and assists in making plant food available to the tree roots. Tillage pro longed throughout the whole season, however, will eventually destroy the physical texture of the soil, promote soil erosion and puddling; and may stimulate the trees into a late immature growth subject to winterkilling. To prevent this, the orchard is seeded down with a cover crop such as rye or clover as soon as the trees have ceased snaking rapid growth. This crop
is turned under in the spring, thus supplying humus for loosening the soil. If clover or other legumes are used as cover crops, an im portant amount of nitrogen is added to the soil. In the West much of the fruit is grown under irrigation, and the tendency has been to till the land throughout the season in order to conserve as much moisture as possible. The detrimental effect of continued clean tillage on soil texture is so evident that the use of cover crops in that region is becoming more common. It is generally recognized that fruit crops ex haust the fertility of the land in much the same manner as other farm crops, and the best fruit growers use fertilizers in some form or other. Soils vary so much even over short distances that the fertilizer question must largely be solved by the individual grower. In lieu of more specific knowledge on the subject, the fertilizer practice of successful growers in any section is apt to give the best results.
Spraying fruits for the control of insects and diseases is a well established and generally necessary practice. Spraying equipment has been perfected for large and for small planta tions and spraying formulas have been worked out to meet the needs of different sections of the country. Sprays are usually applied in liquid form. Quite recently some progress has been made in the perfection of dusting ma chines for orchard use. The fumigation of young fruit trees in nursery establishments for the control of scale insects is a common prac tice and is required by law in many sections. (See INSECTICIDES; FUNGICIDES). Most fruit growers practice pruning to some extent. The best practice calls for a light annual pruning rather than intermittent heavy pruning. Prun ing is apt to be neglected over too long inter vals because it requires more knowledge and experience than other orchard work and skilled labor is not always available. The subject is discussed under Pruning (q.v.). Fruit trees often set more fruit than can be matured to marketable size. An excessive crop usually means small and often poorly colored fruit. The overloading breaks down the limbs of the tree; thus favoring the development of disease, and, at the same time, reducing the chance for a good crop the succeeding year. These conditions can be corrected by thinning the fruit. Thinning is an established practice with peaches and other summer fruits. Such fruits show remarkable increase in size from thinning. When a market for high quality fruit is as sured, it is often profitable to remove as much as two-thirds of the immature fruit. There is an increasing demand for high quality apples, and thinning is more common in the best com mercial districts. Varieties that naturally grow large should not be thinned beyond the point of reducing excessive strain on the tree. In the citrus regions the fruits require several pickings and each of these pickings might be called a thinning' operation. The usual time to thin is just after the so-called June drop, when the tree sheds much fruit that failed to pollinate and when growth is still active. The amount to thin varies with the kind of fruit and the variety. Rarely will it pay to thin un less the remaining fruits are well sprayed.