The geography of apple-growing on the North American continent cannot be better displayed than by copying the table of contents of the larger part of Chapters III and II in Folger and Thomson's excellent recent book, "The Commercial Apple Industry of North America:"
Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick Quebec Ontario British Columbia.
_Leading Apple Regions of the United States_
Western New York Hudson Valley New England Baldwin belt The Champlain district New Jersey Delaware Shenandoah-Cumberland district Piedmont district of Virginia Minor regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia Mountain region of North Carolina Mountain region of Georgia Ohio Southern Ohio, Rome Beauty district Minor regions in Ohio Kentucky Michigan Illinois Southern Illinois early apple region Mississippi Valley region of Illinois Ozark region Missouri River region Arkansas Valley of Kansas Southeastern Illinois Colorado New Mexico Utah Montana Washington Yakima Valley Wenatchee North Central Washington district Spokane district Walla Walla district Oregon Hood River Valley Rogue River Valley Other apple districts in Oregon Idaho Payette district Boise Valley Twin Falls Lewiston section California Watsonville district Sebastopol apple district Yucaipa section Wisconsin Minnesota
The varieties of the South and the North, and largely also of the West and the East, are prevailingly different. Canada has a set of apples quite its own. These differences are marked when one visits exhibitions in the various regions. Let the visitor who is a good judge of apples in Michigan and Ohio attempt to judge them in an exhibition in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, in the Province of Quebec, in North Carolina, in Minnesota, in Oregon. He will be impressed with the wonderful diversity, as well as the undeveloped resources, of the continent.
Southward, apples do not keep well. There are no true winter apples in the Southern States, outside mountain regions. A winter apple of the North becomes a fall apple in the South. In fact, there are marked differences in keeping quality within a single State. On gravelly lands or warm slopes in the southern part of New York, the Northern Spy may become practically a late autumn apple; in the northern parts of the State it is a firm crisp all-winter keeper. In the winter apple, the ripening process proceeds in storage. When the season is so long that maturity is reached on the tree, the subsequent duration is relatively short.