2222 NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



quantities in the rich valley lands of the mountains. 

 The sweet potato is grown in greater or less acreage on 

 almost every farm in the state. The total of this pro- 

 duction is a very large item amounting to about 8,000,- 

 000 bushels, one-seventh of the total crop of the United 

 States. 



Watermelons and cantaloupes are extensive truck 

 crops in the sand-hill section of the state. The plantings 

 of some of the larger growers run into hundreds of 

 acres. In the shipping season, trainloads of refrigerator 

 cars of melons and cantaloupes go north daily. 



The growing of the head types of lettuce has become 

 a considerable industry in North Carolina. The early 

 crop is grown under cotton covers and the later ones in 

 the open field. The lettuce crop is usually followed on 

 the same land by radish, cucumbers or beets. Snap 

 beans and English peas are much used as early spring 

 catch-crops before the general summer farm crops. A 

 considerable industry has developed in some localities 

 in the production of very early corn for northern mar- 

 kets, before the northern crop comes in. 



The strawberry is so extensively grown in North 

 Carolina as to be considered a regular field crop. At 

 Chadbourn, Mt. Tabor and other points along the Coast 

 Line Railroad, the production of strawberries is so 

 great that the large northern markets have found it to 

 their advantage to send their agents to buy on the track 

 as the cars are loaded. During the season, solid train- 

 loads of iced cars of berries leave the strawberry section 

 of North Carolina daily. The dewberry is also rapidly 

 becoming a commercial fruit crop of importance, the 

 output ranging in the neighborhood of 300 cars a 

 season. 



In the last decade, North Carolina has made rapid 

 development in the commercial culture of apples. The 

 high altitude combined with rich mountain soils and 

 bright but cool climate make fruit of high color and 

 a fine quality. Standard northern varieties are 

 grown as well as many of southern origin. On many 

 mountain slopes, owing to favorable air-drainage, ther- 

 mal belts or zones are found where orchards have a 

 high immunity to injury by cold. For this reason the 

 commercial orchards are located mostly on the high 

 sloping sides of the mountains. Commercial orchards 

 vary in size from a few hundred up to as high as 

 60,000 trees. (See Volume I, page 322.) 



The peach orchards of North Carolina are situated 

 mostly in the sand-hill section, but there is a general 

 exodus of peach-growing to the higher lands of the 

 foothills and mountain spurs where thermal conditions 

 give a greater exemption from frost. North Carolina 

 peaches are of high color and excellent quality. They 

 go to market about ten days later than the Georgia 

 crop and nearly two weeks earlier than the northern 

 peaches. 



The grape in North Carolina is represented by two 

 different types, the muscadines, which are native of 

 the coastal region, and the labruscas or "bunch grapes," 

 which are grown mostly in the Piedmont and moun- 

 tains. The Scuppernong, a white variety of the musca- 

 dine or rotundifolia type, is found as a domestic fruit 

 on almost every plantation in eastern Carolina. Like 

 the fig, it has proved to be almost an ideal home fruit 

 for the South. It will stand almost any kind of neglect 

 and almost unfailingly produces an abundant crop of 

 very excellent fruit. 



Some very large vineyards of Scuppernong grapes 

 have been developed for wine purposes, but in the face 

 of an increasing temperance sentiment the industry is 

 not enlarging. At the horticultural branch experiment 

 station, at Willard, an extensive experiment with mus- 

 cadine grapes is being conducted by the State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and Experiment Station in coope- 

 ration with the Division of Pomology of the National 

 Department of Agriculture. The most promising varieties 

 of the rotundifolia species from Virginia to Texas have 



been collected and are being tested. Breeding work is 

 under way to develop varieties of this species that will 

 be valuable for dessert and market purposes. When 

 given careful tillage and an especially thorough spray- 

 ing, the "bunch grapes" produce very fine fruit. 



The "paper-shell" pecan is rapidly coming into 

 prominence in eastern North Carolina as an orchard 

 crop. Orchards of budded pecan trees of standard 

 varieties are being planted every year and the earlier 

 plantings are coming into bearing. Seedling groves are 

 being top-worked to named varieties. In the Piedmont 

 section, plantings are being made of English walnuts. 



Public-service agencies for horticulture. 



The Land-Grant college of North Carolina commonly 

 known as the "College of Agriculture and Mechanic 

 Arts," is located at West Raleigh. The institution was 

 established in 1889. The teaching work in horticulture 

 is carried on by one professor and one instructor. 



The North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion was established originally as a division of the State 

 Department of Agriculture, in 1877. In 1887 the Station 

 became a department of the College and was conducted 

 jointly by the College and the Department of Agricul- 

 ture from 1887 to 1907 with the exception of three 

 years. The branch experiment stations, or test farms, 

 are located so as to represent the major soil types, the 

 climatic conditions and the principal agricultural and 

 horticultural industries of the state. The Pender 

 station is located at Willard, 33 miles north of 

 Wilmington. It represents the great trucking in- 

 dustry of the state. The Edgecombe station, situated 

 near Rocky Mount, is located to represent the north- 

 eastern coastal section and the soils of that region. The 

 experiments are principally with corn, cotton and pea- 

 nuts. The Iredell station, located at Statesville, repre- 

 sents the Cecil clay soil type and the crops of the Pied- 

 mont region. The Swannanoa station is located in the 

 mountains near Asheville at an altitude of 2,200 feet. 

 It represents the principal soil types and crops of the 

 mountain region. The Transylvania station is located 

 so as to represent the best conditions for commercial 

 apple-culture. It has a wide range in altitude and soil 

 conditions. The Granville station, located at Oxford 

 in the old bright tobacco belt, has been equipped for 

 experimental work in the culture and curing of tobacco. 

 The Black Land station is located at Wenona and rep- 

 resents the muck soils of the swamp areas, of which 

 there are between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 acres in the 

 state. There are five members of the horticultural staff 

 of the Experiment Station. Forty-four bulletins on 

 horticultural subjects have been issued. 



There are no special schools in the state devoted to 

 horticulture, but horticulture is taught in connection 

 with agriculture at the new agricultural high-schools. 

 Horticulture is not taught in the public schools, except 

 occasionally in the form of nature-study or school- 

 gardens. 



North Carolina has a well-equipped State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, divided into twelve divisions. The 

 Department issues a monthly series of bulletins of 

 which thirty-three have been on horticultural subjects. 



The work done by the State Horticulturist in addition 

 to that in connection with the Experiment Station and 

 test farms is largely in the nature of extension or devel- 

 opment work. A cooperative investigation was begun 

 in 1912 with the National Weather Bureau to study the 

 phenomena known as "thermal belts" or "frostless 

 zones," found so commonly in the mountains of North 

 Carolina. Observing stations have been located at 

 different altitudes and on varying slopes and exposures 

 at seventeen places in the mountains. 



The newly organized Division of Markets is forming 

 cooperative associations for the better distribution and 

 marketing of fruits, vegetables and other products. 



The inspection of nurseries for San Jos6 scale and 



