112 Appendix. 



rope and America, the east and tlie west, the same lessons are learned. With 



one accord tliese trees, tliough separated by leagues of land and water, proclaim the 



creed of the apple tree — complete air and water drainage, and a deep, loamy soil. 



Speaking upon this topic about L'OO years ago, Miller, an English authority, 



said : 



A gentle hazel loam, which is easy to work and does not retain the wet, is 

 the best. Although these trees will grow on very strong land they are seldom so 

 thriving, nor is the fruit so well flavored as upon trees grown on a gentle soil. 

 Dry, sandy, or gravelly soils are wholly unfit for the apple tree. 



Delavillo.* writing upon the subject of soils suitable to fruit culture in France. 



says : 



A good soil for all fruit trees is composed of equal parts of sand, clay, and 

 lime. 



Baltet.** a popular French horticultural writer, in discussing the subject of 



soils desirable for the apple, remarks that : 



A wheat soil is the soil for the apple tree when grown as a standard. 



The importance of thorough drainage in connection with a good ^soil is empha- 

 sized by the same author in these words : 



The fruit of the apple is largest in the humid valleys, but best flavored on 

 the hills and dry table lands. The excess of humidity, as the need of free air, 

 inducing canker and favoring the aphis. 



Nanot.*** in his treatise upon the cider apple, thus speaks of the soil as bear- 

 ing upon this fruit : 



Tlie apple is not very particular as to the nature of the soil ; it neither dis- 

 likes very clayey, very limey, nor very sandy soils, but the best flavored and long- 

 est keeping fruits come from trees grown on clay loam. 



Dr. L. II. Bailey,**** speaking of apple-growing in the eastern United States. 



says : 



As a rule, rather light or loamy soils, v/ith deep and porous subsoils, are best 

 adapted to apple growing. Natural drainage is imperative. Apple trees are im- 

 patient of wet feet. 



At a meeting of the Oregon State Horticultural Society, lield in Newberg in 

 1901, E. 1^. Smith made the following statements while speaking briefly of tlie apple : 



Apples grown on sandy soil will weight much less per bushel than those 

 grown on clay or clayish soils, other conditions being equal. Apples to be long 

 keepers must be grown on soil having some clay. 



In reply to a question relative to this point. Col. G. B. Brackett, the pomolo- 

 gist of the U. S. D. A., writes (1904) : "I know of no experiments along this 

 line, but I am inclined to think that apples grown upon clay loam, other condi- 

 tions being equal, would be somewhat lieavier than those grown upon light, sandy 

 soil. I know that apples that are grown on heavy clay soil are apt to keep better 

 than those grown upon light, sandy, porous soil. Of course, keeping qualities de- 

 pend somewhat upon latitude, and also upon the elevation at which they are 

 grown." 



From somewhat extended general observations in the apple orchards of West- 

 ern Oregon during the past decade or more, I am convinced that much of our 

 soil is admiral)ly suited to the apple tree. The land upon which the Douglas fir 

 thrives, when not too steep and rocky, is usually well adapted to the culture of 

 this fruit. The alluvial soils of the minor valleys when of a depth of eight to 

 twelve feet or more produce thrifty, vigorous, long-lived trees. Some of the best 

 old orchards in the State are located upon the gentle rolling lower hill lands of 

 Yamhill County, while some of the cleanest and thriftiest of the younger genera- 

 tion orchards are to be found on the red hill lands of Polk and Marion Counties. 

 In the selection of a site on the higher elevations, or even upon the lower hill 



*Cours I'ractique I)"Arboriculture Fruitiere, 1897. 

 **Traite de la Culture Fruitiere, lOOO. 

 ***Le Culture du I'omme a Cidre, 1895. 

 ****Field Notes on Apple Culture, 1893. 



