Soil Adaptations 13 



freezing" of nursery trees in transit and of fall-planted 

 trees. 



4^-^ 



The soil determinant. 



There are special adaptations of fruits to soils. Pomol- 

 ogists have been well aware of this fact as a general truth, 

 but only recently has close attention been given, in 

 this country, to the minor and detailed applications of it. 

 It is well understood that pears flourish best in clay soils 

 and peaches best in sandy or at least in open soils, but 

 no doubt there are distinct preferences in the varieties 

 of pears and peaches themselves. It is possible, hi fact, 

 that each distinct family or type of varieties of any 

 species has preferences of land and location, and it will 

 be the business of coming generations to determine what 

 these peculiarities are. With the increasing refinements 

 and competitions of the future, the special and local 

 problems must receive more and more attention. If these 

 positions are well taken, it must follow that the promis- 

 cuous and wholesale dissemination of a few varieties over 

 the country must eventually cease, and that local and 

 special sorts must constantly tend to drive out the cos- 

 mopolitan and general varieties. 



These questions of soil adaptations for fruits have been 

 made the subject of study over a wide range by Wilder 

 of the national Department of Agriculture, and he is able 

 to discuss the soil requirements of the Baldwin apple, 

 the Wagener, Spy, Hubbardston, Gravenstein, and others, 

 with considerable definiteness. He points out that the 

 common advice as to "any deep, well-drained soil, on 

 hill or slope/' being adapted to apple-growing is not 

 sufficiently exact and discriminating. "The loss from 

 choosing a soil for orchard planting that is not adapted 



