REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 313 



several inquiries, among which maybe this: " What has this question to do with 

 horticulture, and why should the writer of the article presume to teach practical 

 fruit growers?" Candor compels me to say that no answer can be given to 

 the last of these inquiries. In reply, and in explanation of the query as to the 

 relation of successful cultivation of sandy soils to fruit growing, will say this, 

 that while it is admitted that no portion of our country is better adapted than 

 Western Michigan for the cultivation of all kinds of fruits and vegetables 

 grown at the north, still, experience has shown that we cannot depend upon 

 one kind of fruit alone; or, in fact, upon various kiuds of fruit. We have 

 learned, as was the case last year with strawberries, that the crop may be so 

 abundant, and the weather be such, in the various portions of what is known 

 as the strawberry belt, that the entire crop of the country may be thrown upon 

 the market, as it were, at once, thus causing almost a total loss of profit on 

 the crop. 



Sometimes a late frost or a hard winter may ruin a particular crop, while 

 others escape. The proper course, it would seem, for fruit-growers to pursue, 

 is to devote a portion of their energies to the cultivation of vegetables. Not 

 only this, but most fruit growers own land sufficient to allow them to raise more 

 or less of the cereals used by their families, and upon their farms. If this 

 couse were followed, fruit growers would not be so dependent upon the results 

 of any particular crop. If this is true, and I think it canuot be successfully g 

 contradicted, the fruit grower, as well as the farmer, is directly interested in the 

 question under discussion. This is not all, because, while it must be admitted 

 that most fruits may be successfully cultivated upon lighter soils than are 

 required for the various cereals, it is also true that fruits are greatly benefited 

 by good soils, provided other surroundings are favorable. 



The various works devoted to the description of the soils covering the sur- 

 face of the earth, divide them into three classes according to the amount of 

 alumnia or clay contained in each, to wit: The sandy soil in which sand and 

 silica are largely in excess, with small per cent of clay; the clay soil which con- 

 tains a larger amount of alumnia, or clay; and the loam which contains a 

 medium amount of clay. It is, therefore, true that all sandy soils contain 

 more or less alumnia, and that all clay soils contain more less sand and silica. 



There is another fact which may be mentioned that is none the less remarka- 

 ble, and that is, that the analyses of plants and general vegetation show that 

 none of them contaiu any alumina, and but very little silica, and that this 

 silica is rather accidental than as forming a necessary ingredient of the plant. 

 This would rather lead to the belief that nature furnished both the sand and 

 the clay, not directly for the formation of vegetation, but rather for the pur- 

 pose of regulating the heat and moisture of the ground while other agencies 

 are carrying forward their growth. 



When we recall the fact that such an immense proportion of the bulk of 

 the earth is composed of sand, silica, and alumina in their various forms, 

 and that their office is only to keep trees and plauts in position, and convey 

 moisture to their roots, the thought seems almost incredible. 



Whether this be true or not, experience has demonstated the fact that a soil 

 in which clay is largely deficient is not regarded as beiug a good one for any 

 kind of vegetation, and that a very stiff clay is almost, if not quite, as poor 

 as a barren sand. 



It is also a fact that both soils are affected about alike by the extreme heat 

 of summer, while the clay soil has the further disadvantage that it is not so 

 readily susceptible to the rays of the sun in spring. 



