Virginia is BIG among apple 1 'rowing states. With

Virginia is BIG among apple 1 'rowing states. With an annual 1 ncome exceeding $40 million for ■ resh and processed fruit, the Old ! Dominion ranks fifth behind ' Washington, New York, Michigan ind California. "There is little doubt that the irst orchards started in what is low the United States were lurtured in what is now Virginia,” ieclared Fred Dreiling, a Virginia rech associate professor of lorticulture. “Early settlers sought out irime sites to establish apple irchards featuring scions of referred European varieties grafted onto native crabapple stocks," he added. “Today some 90 per cent of Virginia’s apples are grown in nountain areas where conditions avor quality. “Planted on slopes down which rosty masses of air flow like vater, trees are spared from frost lamage. Their roots pick up leeded minerals from the somewhat heavy, nutrient-rich dinging soils of highland regions, rool nights and warm days help in coloring the fruit,” Dreiling explained.

Orchard men give credit for the quality level of Virginia apples to deal growing conditions, and to he research and mechanical nnovations science has brought to he enterprise. Dreiling, an extension specialist n pome fruit, described some of he advances in orcharding echniques during the past 20 /ears. “A scant 20 years ago, Virginia counted over 1,500 orchards, roday’s orchards number about 100. Orchard size and yields per icre rose alpiost in unison. Then r’ields averaged 175 bushels per icre. Now, yields of over 400 pushels per acre are common,” Dreiling noted. Improved cultural practices nclude spraying chemical fornulas in the right amounts at the ight time to control damage by nsects, weeds and plant diseases. “A thinner spray, applied about :wo weeks after bloom, destroys he weaker buds and blossoms and leaves the trees to develop fruit of bigger size and better quality,” Dreiling explained. Semi-dwarf trees of 14 to 16 foot heights permit easier care and harvest of Virginia orchards. Harvesting has undergone changes in recent years,” Dreiling added. “Apple picking has been refined to prevent bruising the fruit. Apple handling and the

both fiction and non-fiction that has been published nationally. In addition to books and articles, he has produced color-sound motion pictures on nature and travel themes. Since 1964, Mr. Lambert and his wife have lived in a preCivil War log house adjacent to the boundary of Shenandoah National Park.

The book is published by the Shenandoah Natural History Association in cooperation with the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior. It is available to both paperback and hardback at $1.75 and $3.75 respectively. It may be purchased at Shenandoah National Park Headquarters and the visitor centers along Skyline Drive and by mail from the Shenandoah Natural History Association, Box 89, Route 4, Luray, Virginia 22835.