Winter Meeting. 319 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2 P. AI. 



APPLES. 



MANAGEMENT OF SOILS. 



(By Prof. S. A. Beach, of the Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa.) 



Professor Beach said that soil is made up of very fine particles ; 

 in clay soil, these particles are very fine and lie close together, while 

 sand is coarser. A very thin film of water is about each of these par- 

 ticles ; therefore, soils vary in their water-holding capacity, as the nature 

 of the soil changes. As a rule, soil which has some clay in it is better 

 for apples and pears ; the soil is cooler and holds more water. 



Soil furnishes anchorage for the tree, and also supplies the food 

 which comes through the sap, and, more important than all, perhaps, 

 soil furnishes the right climatic condition about the roots. 



'T believe that one reason why apples cannot be grown satisfactorily 

 in the far South is that the soil temperature is too high," said the 

 speaker. "To grow apples there we must get a lower soil temperature, 

 and along the same line I believe that as we go south into the Ozark coun- 

 try we must consider the growing of such crops as will protect the soil 

 from the direct rays of the sun during the summer. 



"How do roots get food from the soil ? We used to think the ends 

 of the roots were like little sponges, and that they absorbed the water 

 from the soil. But we now know better. As a matter of fact, the tip 

 end of the roots is calloused, to force its way through the soil, and just 

 back of this calloused tip is a soft, spongy portion which takes in the 

 moisture from the soil. Old roots take up very little moisture, but the 

 new growth of the rootlets accomplishes this work. Now, when the soil 

 is so full of water that the air is shut off, no new roots are formed, and 

 no new water is taken up, and the tree suffers as a consequence. We 

 have preached the gospel of the conservation of moisture, but we must 

 also remember that it is necessary to aerate the soil. Drainage is there- 

 fore important." 



"I have sometimes thought," continued Prof. Beach, "that if one is 

 to make a business of orcharding, one can profitably spend a year in a 

 nursery and another year in a greenhouse. In this way one can know 

 more about plant growth than can be learned in perhaps any other way. 

 One will know the effects' of heat and moisture, and also the importance 

 of humus in the soil." 



