6 The Bulletin. 



the advantages of altitude in commercial apple orcharding. 



An apple tree, in its soil and fertilizer requirements, differs little 

 from a forest tree. The conditions of soil that will produce heavy 

 timber will produce productive fruit trees. Forest trees grow natu- 

 rally on mountain slopes because they find there a rich soil, abundant 

 drainage and clear sunlight. The same conditions will produce large, 

 productive, long-lived fruit trees. Where the natural forest is taken 

 off the mountain slopes by the lumbermen a forest of fruit trees can 

 profitably succeed it. Indeed, no cultivated crop so well holds sloping 

 lands from washing as do the strong roots of fruit trees. The common 

 agricultural trouble known in the South as "washing of land" is only 

 another name for uncontrolled drainage. Trees, since they are per- 

 ennial in growth and have their roots in the soil at all seasons, are 

 more useful than any other crop in protecting mountain lands from 

 destructive erosion. Sloping soils which will wash must necessarily 

 be well drained. This is the foremost reason why trees like sloping 

 land and why mountain orchards give better results than those in 

 similarly cool locations, but on flat lands with the water table too close 

 to the surface. 



The cool but sunny slopes of southern mountains have ideal condi- 

 tions of soil and drainage that are unexcelled for the culture of hardy 

 fruits. The cool climate of a southern mountain region obtained by 

 high altitude is, for many reasons, better for apple growing than the 

 equally cool but less sunny locations in the North obtained by higher 

 latitudes. 



NATURAL IRRIGATION IN MOUNTAIN REGIONS. 



It is not only necessary that trees be protected from excessive moist- 

 ure by drainage, but to insure their best growth and productiveness 

 they must have a copious and constant supply of water during their 

 season of growth, and particularly when they are developing a crop of 

 fruit. If the roots of a tree are immersed in water for any length of 

 time its leaves will turn yellow and drop, and it will cast off its fruit. 

 If this condition becomes chronic, as on ill-drained lands, the roots will 

 sooner or later become diseased and rot off. On the other hand, ex- 

 cessive droughts may leave in the soil so limited an amount of moisture 

 that the tree will show yellow foliage and cast off its fruit as it does on 

 too wet land. As sloping land is a natural corrective for too much 

 water being supplied to trees, it is also a means of furnishing moisture 

 in times of excessive drought. In elevated regions it is often found that 

 moisture precipitated on mountain tops is carried down gradually, 

 so that lower slopes receive from it a copious and constant supply. 

 This is especially true where the soil is more or less mixed and under- 

 laid with rock or shale. The rocks protect the moisture from the sun, 

 and the roughness of a rocky or shaley bed affords a natural reservoir, 

 which gives up its moisture in a slow but constant supply to lower 



