OPINION

REX NELSON: An apple-growing tradition

There's a reason that the apple blossom is the Arkansas state flower. In the early 1900s, Benton and Washington counties were the two largest apple-producing counties in the country.

"The entry of railroad lines into the state--such as the one that reached Fayetteville in 1881 and Lincoln in 1901--offered access to distant markets as far away as Maine and Saskatchewan, Canada," Roy Curt Rom writes for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. "These new market outlets ultimately resulted in a massive increase in commercial orchard plantings in Northwest Arkansas from 1880 to 1920. Acreage grew from a few hundred acres to many thousands, which by 1900 amounted to an estimated 40,000 acres in Benton County, based on tree counts, with only slightly smaller acreage in Washington County. ... The railroads enthusiastically and with optimism promoted opportunities for easy profit making, and for a few years, this was true. Along with the great orchard expansion, supporting industry developed--barrel making, apple drying, distilling juice, packing sheds and ice-making plants."

In 1901, a Searcy resident named Love Barton presented each member of the Arkansas Legislature with a red apple and urged them to declare the apple blossom the state flower. The legislators quickly followed through.

"An exhibit of Arkansas apples won first prize at the Centennial Fair in Philadelphia in 1876," Rom writes. "In 1900, the Arkansas Black variety won first prize at an exhibition in Paris, France. Arkansas apples at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1905 won in all major categories. According to the Arkansas Sentinel, a fair in Springdale saw more than 140 seedling entries, and the top award went to the Mammoth Black Twig. The prize was $10. The first Rogers Apple Blossom Festival was held in 1924 and featured a parade with floats from schools, clubs, civic organizations and businesses. The 1926 festival drew more than 30,000 people, many brought to Rogers from adjacent cities by special trains. The festivals were canceled after 1927 because of the frequency of rain periods during bloom season."

Though apple production in Arkansas was steadily declining by the 1930s, the interest in apples and apple blossoms continued. From 1932-42, a Fort Smith newspaper sponsored apple blossom pilgrimages each spring, distributing road maps so people could drive to various orchards. In 1934, more than 1,000 cars passed a checkpoint near Rogers to see the orchards.

My mother loved to visit Eureka Springs when I was a child, and we would always stop on the way there at Banta's House of Apple on U.S. 62 near Green Forest. If apples were being harvested, we would buy a bushel. At other times of the year, we would purchase a gallon of cider and always have a piece of hot apple pie.

Most Arkansas apple growers these days are in the northern part of the state, with their orchards averaging less than five acres in size.

One positive note for the state's now small apple industry is that a new generation of chefs has rediscovered varieties such as the Arkansas Black. They're now using them on a regular basis in upscale restaurants. As thousands of young urban professionals move to Northwest Arkansas to take advantage of the region's booming economy, they're discovering hard apple ciders along with craft beer.

On Friday night the historic community of Cane Hill, which is about 19 miles southwest of Fayetteville on Arkansas 45, will hold its Apple Festival. A supper with an apple-themed menu will be served beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the recently remodeled Cane Hill College building. A series of speakers will begin presentations at 7:15 p.m. Susan Young of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History at Springdale will talk about the history of apple production in Arkansas. Guy Ames of Ames Orchards at Fayetteville will discuss how to save, plant and care for apple trees. Leo Orphin of the Black Apple Crossing Cidery at Springdale will speak on hard cider production in the state. Tickets are $35 each with proceeds being used for planting and maintaining apple trees in the Cane Hill area.

The tradition of growing apples goes back to the Arkansas Territory. The Arkansas Gazette reported in 1822 that James Sevier Conway had apple trees on his farm west of Little Rock. By 1835, Cane Hill had a nursery that was supplying apple trees to farmers in the area. Wagon trains would haul apples to Van Buren, and they would then be shipped down the Arkansas River to Little Rock. Following the Civil War, commercial orchards became more common in Northwest Arkansas.

"By 1880, apple production exceeded what freighters could haul, and most of the crop was wasted," Rom writes. "The expanding Apple Belt of the Ozarks had become a production area isolated from markets because it was devoid of sufficient transportation access."

As noted, the railroads changed that. Barrel manufacturing became an important industry, with barrels that could hold 140 pounds of apples. By 1895, there were 47 distilleries in Northwest Arkansas producing vinegar and brandy. By 1901, the apply-drying business was a major employer with almost 250 evaporators in the region. The record production year was 1919 when more than 5 million bushels of Arkansas apples were produced. That dropped to 2 million bushels by 1935 and less than 250,000 bushels annually by the 1960s.

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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.

Editorial on 10/04/2017

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