36 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



In New York state, the preference for sandy or 

 gravelly loam is still more emphatic. The value of 

 a clay subsoil, very widely recognized in states far- 

 ther south, begins to make itself felt in the more suc- 

 cessful peach regions of New York state. In New 

 Jersey the sandy or gravelly type of soil is preferred, 

 underlaid either with gravel or friable clay. In Del- 

 aware and Maryland, the sandy loams of the Chesa- 

 peake Peninsula are found to be excellent for the 

 growing of peaches. About the only point to be 

 guarded against in choosing soils of this type in this 

 locality is a deficiency of plant food. Except in ex- 

 treme cases such deficiencies can be made good by 

 careful soil management, the use of barnyard 

 manures, green manures, cover crops, etc. 



In the important peach regions of West Virginia 

 and a part of old Virginia, special soils have been 

 developed with great success. These are known as 

 the black cherts and the sandy red shales. These 

 soils, full to overflowing with small broken stone, 

 and which seem to be on first sight almost impossi- 

 ble of cultivation, have proved to be remarkably 

 adapted to fruit growing, and especially well suited 

 to peaches. 



In the Canadian peach regions, as one might 

 expect, the sandy loams are particularly preferred, 

 and open gravelly subsoils are found more satis- 

 factory than softer clay. The same conditions pre- 

 vail largely in the peach-growing regions of Michi- 

 gan, where there are thousands of acres of sandy 

 loam devoted to this crop. Gravel and clay lands 

 are used more frequently than in Canada, and are 

 not considered desirable unless exceptionally well 

 drained and in the best of physical condition. 



In the central states, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee, the reddish clay and the roll- 



