70 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



A gravelly soil is one made up in greater part of small 

 stones, pebbles, decomposed rock, etc. ; such soils, as a 

 general thing, are unfit for fruit trees, unless great labor 

 is incurred in trenching, deepening, and mixing with 

 clay, muck, etc., of opposite characters. 



A loamy soil is one we hear a great deal about, and 

 may be understood in various ways. It may be considered 

 a mixture of equal parts of sandy, clayey, and vegetable 

 soil. It is neither so light as the sandy, on the one hand, 

 nor so tenacious as clay on the other ; and, as a general 

 thing, contains such elements, and is of such a texture, as 

 to render it eligible for all ordinary purposes of cultiva- 

 tion, and especially so for fruit trees. Loamy soils are 

 spoken of as sandy loams when sand forms a large ingre- 

 dient say one-half of their composition ; gravelly, when 

 pretty largely mixed with small stones ; calcareous, when 

 lime is found in them. 



Calcareous soils have a large amount of lime mixed 

 with the other ingredients of which they are composed. 

 All the lands in limestone districts are of this character, 

 and, as a general thing, are well adapted to fruit culture. 



Peaty soil consists chiefly of vegetable mould from de- 

 cayed marsh plants, in low, wet places. It is unfit, in 

 itself, for fruit trees, but is valuable for improving both 

 light and heavy soils. 



Alluvial soils nre made up of decomposed vegetable 

 substances, the sediment of rivers, and materials washed 

 down from neighboring hills ; the valleys of all our rivers 

 and streams are composed of this, and it is the richest 

 of all soils. Fruit trees in such soils make a rank, 

 vigorous growth, but they are not so hardy nor so fruit- 

 ful, nor is the fruit so high flavored as on soils with more 

 sand, clay, or gravel, and less vegetable mould. 



In treating of the different classes of fruits, we shall 

 refer to the particular soils best adapted to them. 



