46 



because it is dark colored and rich in humus. The soil should 

 be selected because of its textural and structural adaptation, 

 regardless of the organic content; then if such soils happen 

 to be well supplied with vegetable matter, so much the better ; 

 if not, it may be supplied. 



To modify, however, by the addition of humus, the physi- 

 cal condition of a sand until it resembles a sandy loam, or so 

 to change a clay until it resembles a clay loam as far down 

 as tree roots ordinarily extend, is unquestionably an expen- 

 sive process, and as orchards are grown for profit, the soils on 

 which they are to be planted should be so selected for the 

 different varieties as to furnish the most favorable conditions 

 possible, before going to the additional expense of trying to 

 change their character artificially. 



While soils so deficient in humus as to be leachy in the 

 case of sands, but stiff, intractable and cloddy in the case of 

 clays, clay loams, and loams, should have their humus content 

 increased until these unfavorable conditions for crop growth 

 of any kind be overcome so far as possible, it is utterly futile 

 to maintain that by the addition of plenty of humus the physi- 

 cal characteristic of any given soil may be so changed that 

 its inherent physical character is negligible so far as its adap- 

 tation to crops or to different varieties of the same crop is 

 concerned. The agricultural practice of the eastern United 

 States is replete with instances of special soil-crop-variety 

 adaptation. 



While the hills of Massachusetts include a great deal of 

 ideal Baldwin soil or soil that resembles the ideal closely 

 enough for practical purposes, they also include a great deal 

 of soil that is not well adapted to the Baldwin. The greatly 

 superior color of the fruit from some orchards when compared 

 with that from others on a different kind of soil — elevation, 

 slope, methods of culture and fertilization being virtually the 

 same — gives striking evidence of the importance of the soil 

 factor. On just this basis the fruit from some orchards sells 

 for a higher price than that from others. This illustrates 

 the economic advisability of selecting the orchard site with 

 soils adapted to the variety to be planted. 



