8 POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



in common. There is hardly any soil but which under favorable 

 conditions will be found adapted to some class of fruits. For 

 instance, the pear prefers a rather heavy clay soil; the peach 

 and cherry quite open and porous soils. The strawberry and 

 blackberry will often do well on soil too sandy for other 

 fruits although either one suffers from drought on a heavy soil. 

 The currant and gooseberry prefer an open clay loam but will 

 adapt themselves to almost any location. Then there are loca- 

 tions, such as the lands adapted to the Albemarle Pippin in 

 Virginia, so wondrously fitted to special fruits that it seems 

 impossible to raise these in perfection elsewhere. 



In the case of apples and many other tree fruits the condition 

 of the sub-soil is generally of more importance than the surface 

 soil, although the condition of the latter must not be overlooked. 

 It is desirable to have a surface soil that can be cultivated easily 

 and will not bake hard after rains. Soil that is extremely rich 

 in plant food is usually undesirable for apples, pears and peach- 

 es, especially if too rich in nitrogen. On such land the trees 

 generally grow large and frequently do not bear until quite ma- 

 ture. The unripened buds and wood, common under such con- 

 ditions, kill back in winter and the vigorous growth of early 

 summer seems to be predisposed to fire blight or similar dis- 



Loess loam is the name given to an open clay soil which 

 is made up largely of clay and small shells. On such land we 

 generally find in the North a vigorous growth of Maple, Hack- 

 berry and White Oak. It is perhaps the best kind of an all 

 around fruit soil and any of our fruits will do well in it. 



A limestone soil, where the roots can reach the underlying 

 lime rock or soil and which has much lime in its makeup, is 

 especially favorable for all our fruits and comes next to or may 

 equal in value the loess loams. In parts of Florida the coral 

 rock and the old shells in the sand help to make good fruit soil. 



Heavy clay loam may be better adapted to agriculture than 

 to fruit raising, but if such soil is thoroughly underdrained and 

 given a proper rotation of cover crops, manure and general cul- 

 tivation, it will often be found adapted to a goodly number of 

 fruits and especially to apples, pears, currants, gooseberries and 



