STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 57 



states in smudge pots for frost protection. It sometimes costs 

 $50 an acre to equip a western orchard with the means of pro- 

 tecting it from frost. Now how much more economical it is 

 for us in the east to select a location which is sufficiently 

 elevated above the surrounding country to secure practical 

 immunity from frost. W'e have in Virginia many hillsides and 

 mountains which have on them what we call the thermal belt. 

 This is perhaps half way up the mountain side, ranging from 

 one-quarter of a mile to a mile in width. No frost ever occurs 

 in this belt. The cold air coming down the mountain, being 

 heavier than warm air, settles underneath the warm air in the 

 valley, and pushes it up until it stands at a certain level against 

 the mountain side. That is where the frostless zone occurs. 

 You may not have conditions like that in Maine, yet you know 

 there is a great difference in the ability of different sites to 

 resist frost and you give preference to the uplands. Frost 

 immunity has much to do with the cost of producing apples. I 

 have had a crop of apples every year for seven years ; this 

 makes my cost of production lower than it would have been 

 had I missed a crop every now and then. 



Varieties. I do not need to urge you to grow the standard 

 varieties and not the novelties. Grow the varieties which are 

 tried and proven in Maine, and your market demands — not 

 what I tell you are best in Virginia. There are four standard 

 sorts in Virginia : the York Imperial, Albemarle Pippin, Wine- 

 sap and Ben Davis. The York Imperial is our Baldwin, the 

 great commercial apple, bearing large crops of fair quality 

 apples under average care, and selling at good prices. The 

 Albemarle Pippin, which is very much higher in quality, is our 

 great export variety. Practically all of them are sold in Eng- 

 land, sometimes at very high prices. Some years they bring 

 $8 and $10 a barrel, but the average is not more than $4. 

 Although this variety often sells for twice as much as the 

 York, the York is frequently more profitable because it costs 

 so much less to produce it. The York will bear nearly 

 twice as many apples, year after year, as the Pippin. It 

 requires only three sprayings, while the Albemarle Pippin needs 

 three more to protect it from bitter rot. This shows that it is 

 not the price you get for apples that measures the profit ; it is 

 the difference between the cost of producing the apples and 



