Farmers in the area experimented with the growing of fruit trees and berries with some success. It became known that areas of Northern Adams county, Northern York county and to a lesser degree parts of the Cumberland Valley were good places to grow fruit. They had the proper soils and conditions that allowed fruits to thrive without much caring required.
Northern Adams county in particular was ideal. With an elevation of just 700 feet, an average temperature of 54 degrees, a 180 day growing season and an annual rainfall of 45 inches, as well as rolling hills, the orchards were not prone to freezing or drought.
The apple orchards had their ups and downs in the early 1800's, as poor transportation methods made fruit more of a local product. Farmers tended to concentrate more on traditional crops and just use a few acres for fruit.
By the mid 1800's the first commercial orchard, known as Fairview Fruit Farm was planted just north of Fox Hollow in Franklin Township (York County?). Other orchards started to spring up throughout northern Adams. In 1893 the owners of an orchard between Arendtsville and Cashtown went to the Worlds Fair in Chicago to display their fruit and received the first commercial orders for apples to be shipped out of Adams county to a national market. With the improved rail links developed in the second half of the 1800's it was possible to ship fresh fruits by train to the larger cities. Many family fortunes were made by the fruit farmers of our area. Growing up in the local area I heard the term "fruit barons" used more than once to describe some of the large family operations in the area.
There was also growth in the industry of processing and canning fruit. Apples were often cut into slices and packed in barrels for transport. The Biglerville Canning Company was founded in 1905 and was purchased by the C.H. Musselman family in 1907. A cousin, I.Z. Musselman started a cannery in Orrtanna. I.Z. pioneered the red tart canned cherry industry in the area. Other plants sprung up in Peach Glen and Gardners. The Peach Glen plant was eventually sold to M.E. Knouse. By the 1920's the industry started to include fruit juices. CH Musselman became a corporation and began to buy up farms in the area. The depresion was hard on the area and many families had to sell. Applesauce became very popular and sliced apples fell from favor. Musselmans constructed the first applesauce processing machines, which helped create a market for all the apples that were bruised or otherwise unfit for sale. By 1934 all of Musselmans production was switched to applesauce. World War II came along and drove up the demand for canned fruit and the local canning operations flourished. Musselmans continued to buy farms and by the 1970's owned 6,000 acres.
Knouse Foods, which started at Peach Glen, began to grow and buy other plants, starting with the I.Z. Musselman plant and farms at Orrtanna. The company eventually bought other plants in Chambersburg and Scotland, PA.
M.E. Knouse once sold his farms to C.H. Musselman in 1957, but later regretted the move and starting in 1959 he bought seven farms still in operation by the Knouse family. In 1984 Knouse Foods purchased what had been the C.H. Musselman Company. Today Knouse Foods is the largest industry in Adams county and one of the largest apple processing companies in the world.
Another giant fruit processor, Motts Inc. is also located in Adams county. Mott's started in New York in 1842 and produced apple cider. It merged with the Duffy Cider Company in 1914 and started production of applesauce in 1930 and apple juice in 1938. Duffy-Mott bought a processing plant in Aspers, Adams County, PA in 1950. American Brands purchased Duffy-Mott in 1968. A London, England company, Cadbury Schweppes, bought Duffy-Mott in 1982. Today it is known as Mott's Inc and has two plants, Aspers and Williamson, NY. and produces 17 million cases of apple products per year.
