Popular Fruit Growing. 



CHAPTER I. 



FACTORS THAT MAKE UP A GOOD FRUIT-GROWING SEC- 



TION. 



Accessibility. By accessibility is meant railroad and other 

 communication; not only nearness to market but the possibili- 

 ties of getting suitable transportation service at a reasonable 

 figure. Water communication is often better than rail, especial- 

 ly for those kinds of fruits that are easily injured by rough handl- 

 ing. Two or more competing lines of communication generally 

 tend to give the shipper better service than when one road has 

 the monopoly. Accessibility is of the first importance though it 

 will not entirely take the place of suitable soil conditions; how- 

 ever, it may sometimes make it profitable to use an inferior soil. 



Good wagon roads make it easy to get to market quickly 

 with large loads of produce in good condition and form, a very 

 important factor in the development of any fruit section. 



If location is so far from the consumer that the produce must 

 be shipped by a common carrier it is important that enough 

 fruit be raised in the section to make the business of handling 

 and shipping it one of sufficient importance to command special 

 attention from the carrier and the buyers, so as to make it a 

 place where buyers will go for fruit. In starting a fruit industry 

 in a new place the pioneers often labor under the disadvantage 

 of not having enough of their product to make it worth while to 

 ship it. This difficulty can be overcome in new sections by 

 starting the industry on a large scale so that shipments may 

 be made in carload lots and by co-operation in selling. 



Soils. The only sure way of determining the value of a soil 

 for a particular fruit is by field-trial, because so many factors 

 enter into the makeup of a good fruit soil that it is easy to make 

 mistakes, and yet the best fruit soils have many evident point* 



