14G Appendix. 



placed on local demand, and a location is enviable and secure in proportion 

 to the number of the best markets of the world that it can command through 

 direct and rapid transit. The day of competing railroads is a matter of the 

 past, and competition has been succeeded by uniformity of tariffs, to the ad- 

 vantage of the stockholder if not tlie shipper. Now, while there may be no 

 competition in freights, yet we recognize the fact that each of our great 

 railway systems is a collector and distributor over a large and separate territory, 

 and he is most happily situated who is in easy touch with more than one of 

 them. From the Atlantic terminals of these trunk roads you will connect with 

 steamship lines which carried to Europe during the past season more than 

 250,000 barrels of apples in a single week. From Pacific terminals you will 

 command coastwise steamers which will transport no inconsiderable portion 

 of your harvest south to California or north to Alaska, that land of immense 

 possibilities, or with trans-Paciflc liners, the pioneers as it were of that unlim- 

 ited commerce yet to be developed with Eastern Asia. 



Transportation facilities being satisfactory, your next concern will be to 

 secure a tract of land adapted for the growing of your orchard, and here have 

 a. care, for success or failure depends largely upon the wisdom of your selection. 

 In my humble .iudgment, a parcel of land is suitable for fruit growing which 

 possesses a deep, porous soil, with perfect water and cold air drainage, for 

 hoth follow the same law and seek lowest levels. A soil should be fairly rich in 

 those valuable salts that enter most largely into the composition of both tree 

 and fruit. It should have a natural shelter against prevailing winds — a hill 

 or a belt of timber — and, if these are lacking, an artificial windbreak should 

 be grown. All soils impoverished by long cultivation, underlaid by a stratum 

 impervious to water a few feet below the surface, or where an orchard has 

 previously been grown, should certainly be avoided. In all this country you 

 will find the deepest soil and the largest forest growth on northerly slopes. In 

 sections where spring frosts are imminent, or where the annual precipitation 

 is less than twenty-rtve inches, these northern exposures are to be preferred, 

 as the moisture is constant and the blossoming retarded over a critical period. 



I pass over many minor details, such as preparation of the soil, etc., and 

 come at once to the most perplexing question that ever confused the mind of 

 a fruit grower — the selection of nursery trees and the adaptation of varieties. 

 I have in mind the planting of an apple orchard. 1 believe that there is con- 

 siderable nonsense as to the superior merits of a nursery tree, whether grown 

 on a whole seedling, a whole root, or a piece root. I care not a farthing by 

 which process it has lieen grown, provided the tree itself conforms to my 

 standard elcellence. Given a stocky body of proper height for its age, with 

 large well-balanced roots, and I waive all objections to its earlier history. I 

 would, however, like to know that the bud or scion was cut from a tree that 

 had established its individuality for health, vigor and fruitfulness, and I can 

 make a pretty close guess what variety it will prove to be when it comes into 

 bearing from the label it bears. 



This opens up the question of varieties. The adaptability of a variety is 

 governed largely by local conditions of moisture, temperature, sunshine, etc. I 

 feel confident, however, in advising the selection of varieties of the highest 

 quality that can be grown in any given locality. But what do we understand 

 by the word quality V Not simply quality as to taste, but quality of color, 

 season of ripening, etc. I should always place quality of flavor or taste first, 

 but if you can with this combine quality of color or of late keeping, or both, 

 you have a fruit of highest excellence. One section may grow Newtowns and 

 j^pitzenburghs to perfection, while the King, Jonathan, Winesap, and Gravenstein, 

 are equally at home elsewhere — all varieties of high flavor, attractive color, and 

 always welcomed in the markets both foreign and domestic. 



This is, indeed, an era of the multiplying of orchards. In the year 1890 

 there were in the orchards of the United States 120,152.795 apple trees. In 

 1900 that number had increased to 201,794,769 trees. In the states embraced 



