16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



stiir. If the subsoil be so clayey or liciivy that iiioisture tloes 

 not percolate down through it readily, a Baldwin of })oor 

 color with a skin more or less greasy is the nsual result. 



lleferring to the effect of a heavy, clayey soil on the growth 

 and quality of apples, Hedrick of the Geneva Experiment 

 Station, in Bulletin 339, published last summer, states that 

 " The station soil is not an ideal one for apples. Though 

 well drained, the land is yet hard and heavy, and much of the 

 time unworkable, coming from the plow in great lumps 

 hardly to be crushed. In such a soil the root run is limited, 



— a fact we have had forced upon our attention in early 

 sirring, when the soil is wet, by the blowing over of several 

 trees. Manifestly, food would be better utilized by trees in a 

 soil where the roots could develop better. Despite the physi- 

 cal condition of the soil, apple trees make a very fair growth 

 and the fruit sets in abundance, but with most varieties — and 

 the Rome used in this experiment is not a marked exception 



— the apples run small, fail to color well and do not always 

 mature properly." 



The ideal to be sought is a heavy, fine, sandy loam, or a 

 light, mellow loam, underlain by plastic, light clay loam or 

 heavy silt loam. It is fully realized that many will not possess 

 this ideal, but the soil that most closely resembles it should 

 be chosen. If corn be grown on such soil the lower leaves 

 will cure down before cutting time, giving evidence of moder- 

 ately early maturity. This is one of the safe criteria by which 

 to be guided in choosing soil for this variety. 



Mention was not made in the above description of the color 

 of the soil. The desirability of a surface soil of dark brown, 

 the color being due to the presence of decaying organic matter, 

 is unquestionable and generally recognized ; and if the soil 

 be not that color the successful orchard ist will uiake it so by 

 the incorporation of organic matter through the growth of 

 legTirninous crops, or otherwise. It is often cheaper to buy 

 soil with a good organic content, or humus supply, than it is 

 to be compelled to put it there after ])urchase before good 

 crops can be secured. Hence this is purely an economic 

 feature. The warning should be stated, however, that a soil 

 should not be jiurchased or planted to apples of any variety 



