38 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



hills. The light, sandy coast lands of the Carolinas 

 are used to some extent for peach growing, but in 

 general are not so successful as the red loams and 

 clays on higher altitudes, as mentioned already. 

 Once more, however, it should be pointed out that 

 this is probably less a matter of soil than of topog- 

 raphy. 



Texas and Arkansas are developing important 

 commercial peach orchards at the present time, 

 chiefly upon warm, sandy land or on sandy, alluvial 

 loam underlaid with clay subsoil. In this latitude 

 a certan amount of retentive clay is desirable either 

 in the peach soil itself or within easy reach in well- 

 drained and friable subsoil. 



In Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma light, warm, 

 surface soils with strong subsoils are largely pre- 

 ferred. In the mountain states where peaches are 

 now an important crop the soils are extremely va- 

 ried. It is impossible to specify any one type 

 as representing the development of the peach indus- 

 try in that section. Red, sandy loams have been 

 found very successful in Colorado. The rich mesa 

 soils are generally desirable, but this is partly on 

 account of their value for irrigation. California has 

 long produced peaches in commercial quantities, 

 chiefly on deep sedimentary loams, usually of pro- 

 nounced sandy type. A state, however, covering 

 such a wide range of latitude and such great ranges 

 of altitude, with such diversity of soil, would natu- 

 rally use land of very different types. 



It ought to be said, in summing up this general 

 consideration of peach soils, that the value of any 

 particular type seems to depend more upon physical 

 character than upon actual chemical composition. 

 The plant food may easily be supplied in the form of 

 fertilizer, since the peach tree is one of the easiest 



