NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 2233 



with various standard sorts, the Aroma has proved to 

 be the most vaUiable kind for the soil and market con- 

 ditions of this district, and is now grown ahiiost 

 exchisively, being shipped in carlots to many northern 

 and eastern cities at prices which, upon the average, 

 have proved very satisfactory to the producer. The 

 yield is about 150 crates (24 quarts) an acre, although 

 occasional yields of 200 crates are found, while a yield 

 as high has 250 crates has been produced in a very few 

 instances. 



The coimty of Jefferson, containing the largest city 

 of the state, Louisville, is the center of a district which 

 is hortioilturally important for both its fruits and 

 truck-growing interests. Owing to the proximity of the 

 city, market-gardening has naturally extended to 

 large proportions. Peaches and other orchard-fruits 

 are profitably grown, but the district has become par- 

 ticularly noteworthy for two specialized industries, the 

 growing of onion sets and second-crop 

 potatoes. While a considerable area of 

 early potatoes is produced under ordi- 

 nary methods, the growing of the second 

 crop is a unique industry which had 

 its beginning in 18S2, and has devel- 

 oped gradually until, in 1914, there 

 were about 11,000 acres planted in the 

 crop, giving a total jdeld of about 

 700,000 barrels. The second crop is 

 planted between July 15 and August 1, 

 and harvested in October. There are 

 two cooperative organizations in the 

 county which market most of the crop. 

 A portion of the crop is held each year 

 in cold storage for seed purposes. The 

 varieties chiefly grown are the Car- 

 man No. 3, and to a less extent, the 

 Irish Cobbler as seed stock for the 

 usual first crop. 



In the hill country to the south and southwest of 

 Louisville, apple- and peach-growing has for years been 

 an important business, while to the northeast the peach 

 orchards of Trimble County have for twenty years and 

 over been a prominent feature. Throughout much of 

 the fruit area mentioned, as in other parts of the state, 

 the most favorable results are secured when advantage 

 is taken of elevated locations, and of the cold-air- 

 drainage resulting from the numerous deeply eroded 

 river-channels. 



In the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio, the fruit- and 

 vegetable-growing interests are of considerable im- 

 portance, although the conditions for market-garden- 

 ing have resulted in a greater development of that 

 business upon the northern than upon the Kentucky 

 side of the Ohio River. 



About two-fifths of Kentucky, comprising the en- 

 tire eastern end of the state, is a mountainous country, 

 rich in coal and other minerals, in which agriculture is 

 confined, for the most part, to a few staple farm crops, 

 which are produced, in many cases, by primitive 

 methods, and with scanty returns. With the penetra- 

 tion of many new railroads into the heart of this vast 

 area, and the opening of extensive mining enterprises, 

 there is coming a fresh reaUzation of its great fruit- 

 growing possibilities. Here and there enterprising indi- 

 viduals have established orchards and gardens, thus 

 showing the possibihty of producing the fruits and 

 garden products abundantly. For most of these prod- 

 ucts, there is an eager home market in the growing 

 mining towns, and when the home demand is supplied, 

 there are now numerous outlets to the larger markets 

 of the cities. 



The larger part of the public park areas of the state 

 are located in Louisville, which now has a valuable 

 series of such parks comprising a tolal of over 1,.500 

 acres which, since their establishment abovit 1890, 

 have been vigorously developed under the direction of 



the most skilful landscape architects. Until recent 

 years, the small cities of the state, on account of their 

 moderate size, have not so keenly felt the need of such 

 pubhc recreation grounds, but with added growth, 

 they are now, for the most part, realizing this need and 

 taking steps to supply it. The cities of Lexington, 

 Owensboro, Covington, Henderson, Paducah, and 

 others have already acquired, and have in use, various 

 tracts of land to serve as a nucleus for further develop- 

 ments in this direction. 



Of other pubhc grounds in which the work of the 

 landscape horticulturist is manifest, the two cemeteries. 

 Cave HiU, of Louisville, and that of Lexington are 

 perhaps the most notable examples in the state. The 

 former comprises an area of about 300 acres, and is 

 situated upon a beautiful tract of land, elevated 100 

 feet above the Ohio River. It contains several beauti- 

 ful lakes, and is especially rich in its collections of 



COV/NGrO^T^^ 



2516. Kentucky, with the horticultural parts. 



aquatics. The cemetery at Lexington contains over 

 100 acres, and was established in 1849. It was excep- 

 tionally fortunate in being under the same superinten- 

 dent, the late Charles S. Bell, from the beginning 

 through a period of fifty-six years, and in having the 

 landscape method of treatment followed from the first. 

 Among many interesting horticultural features, the 

 most notable today are the magnificent old bur oaks, 

 white ekns, and other trees, many of which are from 

 3 to 5 feet in diameter. 



There is not yet full appreciation among Kentuckians 

 of the remarkable resources in trees, shrubs, and herba- 

 ceous plants growing within the borders of the state, a 

 flora so rich and varied that a fully satisfying scheme of 

 landscape planting might anywhere be developed with 

 access only to the native species. The widely varying 

 conditions of soil, altitude, and climatic conditions, 

 ranging from the high ujilift of the Allcghanies in the 

 east to the low bottom lands lying along the Ohio and 

 Mississippi rivers in the west, have resulted in a 

 natural assemblage of many of the finest tree and shrub 

 species growing in North America. A list of the woody 

 plants of Kentucky recently issued by the botanical 

 department of the State Experiment Station (Bulletin 

 No. 169) records the presence in Kentucky of twelve 

 species of the Conifera;, ten of willows, six of ash, seven 

 hickories, nineteen oaks, five elms, and four magnolias. 

 In addition to these, there are numerous other species 

 in great profusion, including such interesting and 

 valuable kinds as the tulip poplar (tulip tree), syca- 

 more, the butternut and black walnut, sweet gum, 

 cypress, the rare and beautiful yellow-wood (clad- 

 rastis), holly, dogn'ood, and red-bud, together with the 

 rhododendrons, laurels, and numerous other shrubs of 

 smaller stature. 



Among the wild fruits and nuts, the black walnut is 

 probably the most widely distributed and attains a large 

 size in Kentucky, having long been the source of a 

 valuable timber-sujiply. The nuts, while occasionally 



