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Big apples
in county
To the Editor:
The 1992 Virginia Apple and Peach Tree Survey has just been published. In terms of production Rappahannock is sixth largest in the state, in fact a $1.0 million industry in a farm industry of $5-6 million in a county with an $18 million economy. When Mary Mellen Orchard gets going this will be more like a $2 million industry producing something like 500,000 bushels per year or perhaps the second most productive county in the state. The Virginia apple growing industry is a $50 million affair, sixth largest in the USA, supporting a processing industry worth $150-200 million, or more. (The US apple growing industry is worth $1 billion).
A measure of how progressive growers are is trees per acre. Frederick County, largest producer, is 72 trees per acre. For Rappahannock it is 183, by far the largest in the state. Another measure is how fast are assets being renewed,' ie, how many non-bearing (new) trees are there, as a proportion of total fruit trees in place. Again, Frederick County is 12 percent; Rappahannock is highest in the state at 35 percent.
G.H. SHARP
Washington
91.3%