38 Tjik Bulletin. 



COMMEKCIAL APPLE CULTURE. 



By F. C. REIMER. Asst. Professor of Horticulture, N. C. College of Agriculture. 



These remarks apply especially to the mountain section and the upper Piedmont. 



■\Vestern North Carolina is esix^cially adapted to apple-gromng. The fruit has 

 been tested by some of the leading horticulturists of the country and has been 

 pronounced as fine in flavor and quality as that grown in any part of the country. 

 This is due to several things. In the first place, plenty of sunlight during the 

 growing season and a cool climate during a large portion of the year in which 

 the apple flourishes. The apple is a cold-climate plant and the mountain section 

 is very similar in climate to that of our Northern States, where apple-growing is 

 carried on quite extensively. 



Apples consume a very large amount of potash, and soil that is rich in potash 

 will usually produce good apples. The red-clay soils of western North Carolina 

 are known to be especially rich in potash, many of them analyzing as high as 

 2 per cent, and some of them as high as 4 and 5 per cent of potash. Potash is 

 very essential in the making of the fiber of the fruit and is absolutely necessary 

 in the formation of the acids which are so essential in good flavored fruit. 



Culture. — Tlie most important thing in apple culture is a proper location. It 

 is very necessary that good transportation facilities are at hand. The apple is 

 a perishable product and must be marketed at a certain time, and the marketing 

 period usually covers only a very short time. It is best in locating a large 

 orchard to be not more than five miles from the railroad. It takes a long time 

 to haul apples over a rough road, and it injures them very much at the same time. 

 The apple is a veiy tender product and must hp very carefully handled. 



Another important thing is the elevation. Many of the apple orchards that I 

 visited during the past summer were located in the valleys, and very little fruit 

 was foinid in these orchards. In most of the orchards which were located on the 

 mountainsides some distance above the valley, an average crop was usually found. 

 This is due to the fact that the fruit in the valleys is usually injured more by late 

 spring frosts than that on the mountainside. There are two reasons for this: 

 In the spring the trees blossom in the valleys much earlier than higher up on 

 the mountainside; sometimes there is a difference of as much as two weeks. This 

 means that the ti-ees on the mountainside usually escape many of the spring frosts 

 which injure the trees down in the valley. The tree is most subject to injury from 

 frosts while it is in blossom; before the blossom opens there is very little danger. 

 Another reason is that on cold nights the cold air. being heavier than the warm 

 air, settles into the valley, while the warm air rises above this cold air. As 

 most of us know, it is usually considerably warmer on the mountainside on a 

 cool night than down in the valley. 



If I were locating a large commercial orchard myself, I would certainly place 

 it some distance above the valley. Just how much, will depend iipon circum- 

 stances. Sometimes an elevation of from 50 to 100 feet- will have a very material, 

 beneficial eff"ect; 200 to 500 feet is still better, and some of the orchards which 

 are giving the best results are located as much as 800 or 1,000 feet above the 

 valley. Of course, this depends somewhat on the variety or varieties grown, and 

 I shall speak of that matter later. It is also a well-known fact that fruit on the 

 south side of the mountain is usually better colored, because it gets more sunlight 

 than that on the north side. On the other hand, fruit on the north side is not 

 as liable to be injured by late spring frosts as that on the south side. 



The soil shouhl be very thoroughly prepared for an apple orchard. Tliere are 

 many people who helievt! that an apple tree will grow under almost any condi- 

 tions, because trees in the forest grow without any attention whatever. These 

 people, however, do not take into consideration the fact that the conditions in the 

 apple orchard and the forest are entirely diflferent. An apple tree, to give the 

 Ix'st results, requires just as good atleiilion as Ihe corn plant. Before planting 

 the apple the soil should be deeply ))lo\vcd and then subsoiied. If the soil is poor 



