PART I "-^ 



2* ?^3 

 HORTICULTURE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



GROWING, although one of the most important 

 branches of agriculture, has not had that careful attention 

 on the part of the ordinary farmer that the value of fruit 

 as a farm crop justifies. This has been due largely to a 

 lack of appreciation on the part of the farmer of the possibilities of 

 this crop as a source of income and for home use and to ignorance of 

 the methods by which fruit culturists have succeeded. It is hoped 

 that the course herewith submitted will be of direct practical value by 

 placing within the reach of the ordinary farmer opportunity to study 

 the subject of fruit growing under the teaching of an expert with a 

 view to his making it a remunerative feature of his system of general 

 farming, and that it may also enable others who wish to specialize in 

 fruit growing to select suitable varieties, cultivate, fertilize, prune, 

 and care for the trees properly, and at the same time utilize for the 

 purpose cheap or waste land." (A. C. TRUE, Director of Experiment 

 Stations, U. S. E. S. B. 178.) 



FACTORS THAT MAKE UP A GOOD FRUIT-GROWING SECTION. 



Accessibility. By this is meant railroad and other communica- 

 tion, and not only nearness to market but the possibility of getting 

 suitable transportation service at a reasonable rate. Water communi- 

 cation is often better than rail, especially for kinds of fruits that are 

 easily injured by rough handling. Accessibility will not entirely 

 take the place of suitable soil conditions, although it does sometimes 

 make profitable the use of an inferior soil. Good wagon roads render 

 it possible to get to the railroad station or to market quickly with 

 large loads of produce in good condition. This is a very important 

 consideration in the profitable development of any fruit section. 



If the location is so far from the consumer that the produce must 

 be shipped by a common carrier, it is important that fruit enough be 

 grown in that section to make the business of handling and shipping 

 it of sufficient importance to command special attention from the 

 carrier and from buyers; in short, to make it a place where buyers 

 will go for fruit. In starting fruit growing in a new place, especially 

 where remote from market, the pioneers are often under the disad- 



17 



