The Climatal Zones 11 



The temperature determinant. 



It is customary to recognize three general climatal 

 fruit-zones, the temperate (typified by the apple and 

 the peach), the semi-tropical (citrous tribes, fig, olive, 

 pomegranate), and the tropical (coconut, banana, annona, 

 mango). There are no positive limits of temperature to 

 mark off or separate these zones; but it is sufficient for our 

 purpose to say that the temperate zone is marked by a 

 long winter of freezing and by the deciduous types of 

 fruits; in the semi-tropical zone the winter is a short sea- 

 son of light frosts or only occasional freezes, and the fruit 

 trees are evergreen or very nearly so; and the tropical 

 zone is frostless, and is marked by evergreen and largely 

 ever-growing fruit-plants. 



The limits of these climatal zones are exceedingly 

 devious. In eastern North America, the northern limit of 

 profitable fruit-growing is not far from the 45th parallel, 

 and the limit sinks considerably lower than this in the 

 Middle West, and rises much above it on the Pacific slope. 

 The northern limit of the subtropical zone in the East is 

 northern Florida and a narrow area skirting the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and on the western side of the continent it extends 

 in the valley climates as high as the 40th parallel. The 

 only part of the tropical fruit-zone in the United States is 

 in extreme southern Florida, comprising about 2 degrees 

 of latitude (reaching northward to about 27). Beyond 

 all these bounds are special localities in which fruits of the 

 adjacent zone may thrive for a series of years, and the fruits 

 of contiguous zones overpass. The strawberry is probably 

 the most tractable of all our fruits as respects climate, 

 because its stature and habit allow it to be protected from 

 extreme cold, and its short period of growth allows it to 

 thrive in the cool season of the subtropical regions. 



