No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 477 



colored pictures of the general kinds of fruit offered — cards being 

 obtained from the Stecher Lithographic Co., Rochester. The result 

 is that his fruit all moves off promptly direct to the retailers and all 

 at remunerative prices, inasmuch as he sets them himself. In this 

 way his apples were sold this fall at .fi per barrel, when ruling 

 prices from buyers were only |3. This system has the advantage 

 of directness. The fruit goes straight from grower to retailer, and 

 in the absence of fruit marketing associations, is one of the most 

 efficient methods of marketing jut seen. 



Turning now to the producing i<ide of fruit grouping, the first 

 problem the prospective orchardist strikes is the soil. AYliat kind of 

 soil should he choose for apples, and will the same soil do for all 

 kinds? This is a mo-st important problem, and one that we wish we 

 knew more about. It is being especially studied now by Wilder, of 

 the Federal Bureau of Soils. The soil expert can often tell in ad- 

 vance whether a soil will produce apples or not. But from the 

 grower's standpoint, local experience with soils is of great im- 

 portance in solving the problem. Oak and chestnut soil is generally 

 considered good, but in general it appears that for many varieties 

 a moderately heavy soil, that is one with a silty-loam surface, under- 

 laid with a deep and somewhat heavier aub-soil is best. This sub- 

 soil may.be a plastic, clay loam; not of the stiff, hard type, but 

 plastic, friable and moist, though well drained. Upon such a soil 

 as this the York Imperial, Rhode Island Greening and Grimes do 

 their best, so far as our present knowledge indicates. Some varie- 

 ties, however, require a much lighter and sandier type of soil. This 

 is true of Jonathan, Baldwin and probably to a less extent of the 

 King. These varieties will do well on the heavier soils, and the 

 heavier soil varieties will be less successful on the lighter. Much 

 of our condemnation of certain varieties as being too far south or of 

 insufficient elevation has probably been due in considerable ];art to 

 their location on wrong soil types. 



A striking case of different soil requirements is observable in 

 Franklin county on distinctly sandy loam, in the ease of the Jona- 

 than and York Imperial. The Jonathan is ordinarily regarded as a 

 weak grower, -'only attaining vigor with age," but on the sandy 

 loam soils of Franklin county, thus far, it is distinctly excelling 

 the Y^ork Imperial, both in growth and yield. The trees are grow- 

 ing side by side, are eight years old. and the Jonathan has borne 

 three light crops to one crop about half as large from the Y^orks. 

 Eighty of the Jonathan trees this year bore 893| pounds of fruit. 

 While eighty Yorks bore 494 pounds. The average trunk girth 

 of the eighty Jonathans this summer v.as 12.27 inches, while that 

 of the Yorks was 11.24 inches. Thus in eight years on a distinctly 

 sandy soil, the Jonathan has exceeded the Y'ork Imperial in growth 

 by more than one inch per tree in trunk girth, besides bearing sev- 

 eral times as much fruit. 



In Bedford county on a heavier, more clayey soil, the difference 

 is practically as striking in favor of the York Imperial. The trees 

 arc/ still young in both cases, so that we are unable to give final 

 conclusions, but the figures indicate clearly that the York Imperial 

 thrives best on one type of soil, while the Jonathan requires another. 



