26 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



of Maryland. From Maryland northward fine peach orchards have 

 been developed in the tidewater region. However, the growing of 

 strawberries, cantaloupes, and early garden truck can be made very 

 profitable from Florida all the way up to New Jersey if the right man 

 takes hold of the work. The location of these early truck farms 

 should be determined by nearness to market or to transportation 

 lines, earliness of location, and protection from spring frosts. There 

 is a succession of these products marketed through the spring and 

 summer, beginning in Florida and following successively up the 

 coast to New York or even farther north. A similar condition of 

 affairs exists in the Mississippi Valley, beginning at the Gulf coast 

 and extending through Mississippi and Louisiana to southern Illi- 

 nois, ending in northern Wisconsin and Michigan. (Y. B. 1904.) 



CHOICE OF LOCATION FOR SMALL FRUITS. 



No small fruit plantation or one that is desired for profit making 

 is likely to be profitable if located far from a market or convenient 

 shipping point. In selecting a location special attention should be 

 paid to the character of the roads, if the fruit must be hauled by 

 wagon for any considerable distance. If railroad or steamboat trans- 

 portation is to be depended on, the efficiency and enterprise of exist- 

 ing lines should be investigated, as the character of their service will 

 be of great importance when fruit shipments begin. 



In any given locality the most important consideration should 

 be the selection of a site reasonably safe from killing frosts in spring. 

 Away from the influence of bodies of water such sites are usually 

 found on small plateaus or gentle slopes terminating in abrupt 

 ravines or valleys where prompt and thorough cold-air drainage 

 exists. Flat land, remote from open water and unbroken by ravines 

 or hills, should always be regarded with suspicion, particularly if un- 

 derlaid by a cold and badly drained subsoil. Bottom lands, in 

 which admirable soil for small fruits is often found, are usually too 

 uncertain in their fruit production, owing to frequent frost injury. 

 The soil requirements of the different species vary considerably, but 

 all thrive in a moderately deep loamy soil that holds moisture well 

 at all times without becoming soggy during protracted rainfall. 



The exposure to be sought varies with the latitude, the climate 

 and the aim of the grower. If earliness is requisite to secure prof- 

 itable prices, and the locality one in which late frosts are infrequent, 

 a southern slope is preferable ; if, on the other hand, a uniform and 

 regular demand exists, regardless of a few days' difference in time of 

 ripening, a gentle northern or northeastern exposure should be 

 selected. In most localities, however, the matter of slope is of much 

 less importance than that of comparative elevation of the site. It 

 should lie higher than the adjacent land without being bleak, and 

 should furnish a soil of at least fair fertility. (Y. B. 1895.) 



The following lists of varieties, while made for northern Ohio, 

 are presented more as a guide to the proportionate allotment of plants 

 of various species in a home fruit garden than as a guide to varieties 

 suited to such a garden. As has already been pointed out, the selec- 

 tion of sorts for a fruit garden is a local as well as personal matter. 



