14 The Principles of Fruit-growing 



to the purpose is so much more serious than a similar 

 mistake with an annual crop that too much care can 

 scarcely be taken in selecting the most suitable soils 

 located on sites otherwise favorable." (Tribune Farmer, 

 April 3, 1913.) 



Many fruits are very cosmopolitan as to soils, although 

 probably none of them is indifferent to even comparatively 

 minor variations in land. Of the temperate tree-fruits, the 

 apple undoubtedly has the most generalized adaptabilities 

 to soils, and this is closely followed by the domestica plum. 

 Among semi-tropical fruits, the orange thrives in a wide 

 range of soils. The peach and grape are more exacting, 

 and the same may be said of the pineapple. 



Now and then fruits are made to grow in uncongenial 

 soils by working them on adaptive stocks. Thus the plum 

 is said to thrive best in sandy regions when it is budded on 

 the peach, the pear is recorded as sometimes grown on 

 very light lands by working it on the mountain-ash, 

 and the mahaleb cherry is thought by most persons to be 

 a better stock for strong soils than for light soils. We may 

 look for the time when certain varieties of the same spe- 

 cies may be selected as stocks for given soils. But all this 

 forced adaption to soils is a very special matter, and it 

 only illustrates the more strongly the great importance of 

 giving particular attention to the general subject of the 

 adaptabilities of species, varieties, and even of strains, to 

 variations in soils. 



The grower should give particular attention to the 

 character of the land. An experienced fruit-grower com- 

 monly determines whether the land is adaptable by its 

 "looks;" and this suggests that the novice secure the ad- 

 vice of an experienced person if he would choose a farm for 

 fruit. The success or failure of existing trees or orchards 



