No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 429 



No. 5. The Middle Region. — Traversed throughout from N. E. to 

 S. W. by long, steep, rocky mountain ranges, which run in a gen- 

 eral way parallel to the main ridge of the Alleghenies. The moun- 

 tains are not high, the valleys as a rule are narrow, and get nar- 

 rower as they leave the Susquehanna river. Peaches of the finest 

 quality can be grown along the foothills of these mountains, and the 

 failures that have been reported can nearly all be traced to the selec- 

 tion of hilltops having a thin, shaly soil, that could not furnish suffi- 

 cient moisture for the ripening crop. Wherever peaches have been 

 planted in deep soil, above the fog line, which is also the killing frost 

 line, they have proved most profitable. In this we have the counties 

 of Union, Centre , Snyder, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, 

 Bedford and Fulton. 



No. 6. Western Region. — All that portion west of the Alleghenies 

 drained by the tributaries of the Ohio, comprising the counties of 

 Mercer, Venango, Lawrence, Butler, Clarion, Jefferson, Beaver, Arm- 

 strong, Indiana, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Cambria, Washington, 

 Fayette, Greene and Somerset. This is naturally a good fruit dis- 

 trict, but wherever coke ovens have been put in operation the fumes 

 have been carried in the air for a considerable distance, and caused 

 more or less discoloration of the fruit. For this reason we would not 

 advise the planting of a large commercial orchard, on land underlaid 

 with a considerable body of bituminous coal. 



No. 7. The Lake Shore Region. — Comprising Erie and the greater 

 part of Crawford county. A singularly fine and temperate climate 

 characterizes the shore of Lake Erie and completely controls a belt 

 some 1.5 or 20 miles in width, known as the grape belt, while fur- 

 ther inland, even 50 miles from the lake, this influence is sensibly 

 felt. 



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