86 Wisconsin State Horticulturax Societt. 



in distinction from peach and quince. Again we have a wide 

 difference of local conditions of soil, aspect and elevation, and a 

 corresponding difference in the success of varieties. So that lat- 

 itude is only general in its relation to adaptation. Thus the 

 peach belt, starting on the Atlantic coast in New Jersey, follows 

 nearly northwest, to the shore of Lake Ontario, thence south and 

 west below Lake Erie, then meandering nearly the whole of the 

 state of Michigan, east of the lake up to latitude 46°, thence 

 nearly south, and across the state of Illinois on latitude 39°, and 

 south of the Missouri river to Kansas City. Here is a wide varia- 

 tion, covering six degrees of latitude or four hundred miles, as 

 the northern peach belt, in a range of one thousand miles east 

 and west. If we were to study up the causes of this wide varia- 

 tion in the adaptation of the peach, we would find that purely 

 local conditions, temperature mainly and soil formation, as 

 an adjunct, are the causes of this wide variation. To be sure the 

 peach is very sensitive to these conditions, and so we find our 

 apple and all the small fruits when we crowd them to the verge 

 of successful culture, or as we now do, a little beyond, and pay 

 little regard to the law of adaptation. 



The history of apple growmg in our state shows a variation in 

 success fully as remarkable as peach growing referred to. Take 

 the parallel of forty-four and one-fourth degrees, about that of 

 this city of Appleton, across the state from east to west ; we com- 

 mence with Manitowoc county, which is undulating, well drained 

 limestone soil, and as fine an apple region as we have in the state. 

 Then comes Calumet county, which is the same in general charac- 

 ter until we strike the valley of the lower Fox, where the general 

 level ana tenacious soil is not favorable to natural drainage, and 

 fruit trees have not done well except where special preparation 

 and artificial drainage have been resorted to. Eastern Outagamie 

 is of this last character, while the western portion rises into those 

 broken hills of Trenton and magnesium limestones, where fruit 

 trees of the hardy varieties are a fair success. Passing into Wau- 

 paca and Waushara counties, and across Adams, Juneau and 

 Jackson, we have good natural drainage, but generally too much 

 sand for a well developed and long-lived fruit tree, except upon 



