212 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Northeastern States the European type is most exten- 

 sively grown, while in many parts of the South the 

 Japanese and American seem to thrive the best. As 

 a rule the trees grow best on a rather moist, clay loam, 

 although certain varieties often seem to thrive on 

 lighter soils. Often the plum is budded upon peach 

 stock when it is necessary to plant the trees upon light 

 soil. The trees bear annually after the fifth year, and 

 will continue to produce profitable crops under proper 

 care for about ten years. In most sections the trees 

 should be carefully sprayed and the fruit thinned so 

 that no two plums touch each othar. Some of the 

 most profitable varieties are Lombard, Green Gage, 

 Abundance, Burbank, Wild Goose and Damson. 



Cherries. There are two principal types of cher- 

 ries, sweet and sour. The trees of the sweet cherries 

 are of a tall, erect growth, while the sour cherries con- 

 sist of a low spreading growth. Although the sweet 

 cherries may be grown with success in only compara- 

 tively few regions, because of the susceptibility of the 

 fruit to rot, the sour cherries produce good crops in 

 many sections of the country. 



The Early Richmond and Montmorency are the 

 leading sour varieties, while the Black Tartarian and 

 Windsor and Dikeman seem to be the best sweet varie- 

 ties. 



Citrus Fruits. 



Orange. The orange is one of our oldest cultivated 

 fruits. The principal orange sections of this country 

 are Florida, the states bordering on the Gulf Coast 

 (principally the Mississippi Delta region), parts of 

 Texas and Arizona and California. 



The orange will grow on almost any kind of soil. 

 The rich alluvial lands produce the larger yields, but 

 the poor sandy soils the better and higher priced fruit. 

 On the sterile sandy soils fertilizers are used with good 

 success, as the requirements of the crop are easily con- 

 trolled on these soils of practically no fertility. 

 Orange trees cannot stand a temperature as low as 26 



