The Bulletin. 5 



The most lofty portions of these mountain ranges are found in west- 

 ern North Carolina. Here a rich soil, combined with high elevation, 

 affords almost ideal conditions for commercial apple culture. Very 

 few fruit growers in the South appreciate the splendid opportunities 

 afforded for commercial apple growing in the high, cool but sunny 

 slopes of the southern Appalachian region. It is only in the last 

 decade or so that fruit growers generally have become aware of the 

 advantages of elevated regions for the commercial growing of hardy 

 fruits. At present, all along the eastern slopes and foothills of the 

 Alleghany Mountains, in Pennsylvania, in Maryland, in Virginia, in 

 West Virginia and in North Carolina, lands which were formerly 

 considered almost worthless for agricultural purposes are now rapidly 

 passing the mark of $100 per acre for commercial orcharding. 



DRAINAGE IN MOUNTAIN REGIONS. 



Another great advantage of mountain lands for growing fruit trees 

 is that they naturally afford the most perfect drainage. The slope of 

 such lands is almost a perfect guarantee that they are naturally well 

 drained or can be made so at very small expense. Orchard trees of 

 all plants require the most perfect drainage. Since they are per- 

 ennial, they cannot, like annual crops, occupy the ground only in the 

 favored season of summer, when growth conditions are almost per- 

 fect. They must be subject to every prevailing condition of heat and 

 cold and of flood and drought throughout the entire year. Trees 

 placed on wet or undrained land have to resist a condition that is 

 adverse to their growth, and their productiveness and longevity are 

 reduced accordingly. In connection with Experiment Station work 

 I once had charge of an orchard that was on very flat land. This 

 orchard received almost ideal tillage, fertilization and spraying.. In 

 spite of the most constant care and attention the trees were unproduc- 

 tive ; they shed their foliage prematurely, and not a year passed but 

 some of them diefl and went to the brush pile. When this orchard 

 should have been at the age of its greatest production and usefulness 

 there was but a remnant of dying trees marking an ill-advised attempt 

 to grow trees in a location entirely unsuited to them. One single cir- 

 cumstance will be sufficient to explain the cause of the utter failure of 

 this orchard : Crayfish would build up their burrows in the soil be- 

 neath the trees. A pebble dropped into a burrow could often be 

 heard to splash into water a few inches below the surface of the 

 ground. These trees, as fruit trees always do, naturally refused to 

 grow and produce on a waterlogged soil. In mountain regions, on 

 account of favorable drainage, conditions of this kind are almost 

 impossible. 



