introduction apple production in the united states has come a long way since early american settlers brought with them seeds and some grafted trees of european varieties intro duced apples to eastern coast north america through careful selection breeding both wild cultivated today s are quite different from those that were first introduced produced commercially nearly all averaged 20 percent higher during 1990s compared pre vious decade usda data date back 1889 when approximately 6 0 billion pounds pro was generally on declining trend beginning 1910s average bottoming out 1940s 1950s at over 4 by end th century had grown 10 for farm household use reported 1909 about one fourth as having value consumed households this share declined years less than 1 mid 1960s it last
