72 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



some interest to state that of all the factors of environment 

 which influence the behavior of varieties, doubtless the climate, 

 in its complexity, is the most potent of all. I wish we knew 

 more about it but until we do, it is probably safe to assume 

 that in the climate factor, heat and moisture constitute, in their 

 extremes, their distribution and their sum-total, the mo.'^t im- 

 portant elements which determine the behavior of varieties, 

 granting, of course, that other conditions do not preclude the 

 possibility of growing any variety of the species. If for in- 

 stance the soil of a particular site is so water-logged because 

 of poor drainage that it is impossible to grow an apple tree of 

 any variety, all climatic factors obviously cease to operate as 

 normal limiting or modifying influences. 



Now if the Baldwin and the Northern Spy, referring to them 

 merely as examples, are good in the North and worthless or 

 nearly so in the South; if the Winesap, a leading variety in 

 middle latitudes, is entirely impossible as a useful sort in the 

 North, is it not likely that important differences exist in the be- 

 havior of varieties even within the limits of the territory in 

 which they are of recognized value and importance? That this 

 condition actually prevails and more commonly perhaps than 

 we have noticed is not difficult of demonstration. 



In an address before the Maryland Horticultural Society a 

 year ago, Professor Waugh called attention to the fact that 

 in the Berkshire Hills it is possible to draw a very well defined 

 line above which the Baldwin cannot be grown successfully 

 and below which it develops to a good degree of perfection. I 

 have made a similar observation with regard to the Winesap 

 grown at dififerent elevations in Virginia. 



In some of the mountain orchards in that state (Virginia), 

 the Winesap behaves just about as I have seen it do in Maine, 

 so far as the degree of perfection which it develops is con- 

 cerned. The Grimes Golden apple grown at a certain eleva- 

 tion in North Carolina will keep a month or more longer than 

 it will when grown at an elevation perhaps 500 or 600 feet 

 lower than the first site. In the case referred to, the two 

 orchards in question are owned by the same party and they are 

 separated only by a comparatively short distance. 



In a West Virginia peach orchard, where there is some 300 

 feet difference between the elevation of the lower and upper 



