No. 4.] SOIL VARIATION. 17 



bc'caiise it is dark colored and ricli in Innnns. The soil slionld 

 be selected because of its textiiral and structural adaptation, 

 regardless of the organic content ; then if such soils happen 

 to be well supplied with vegetable matter, so much the better ; 

 if not, it niay be supplied. 



To modify, however, by the addition of humus, the physical 

 condition of a sand until it resembles a sandy loam, or so to 

 change a clay until it resembles a clay loam as far down as 

 tree roots ordinarily extend, is unquestionably an expensive 

 process, and as orchards are grown for profit, the soils on 

 which they are to be planted should be so selected for the 

 different varieties as to furnish the most favorable conditions 

 possible, before going to the additional expense of trying to 

 change their character artificially. 



While soils so deficient in humus as to be leachy in the 

 case of sands, but stiff, intractable and cloddy in the case of 

 cla^^s, clay loams, and loams, should have their humus content 

 increased until these unfavorable conditions for crop growth 

 of any kind be overcome so far as possible, it is utterly futile 

 to maintain that by the addition of plenty of humus the physi- 

 cal characteristics of any given soil may be so changed that 

 its inherent physical character is negligible so far as its adap- 

 tation to crops or to different varieties of the same crop is con- 

 cerned. The agricultural practice of the eastern United 

 States is replete with instances of special soil-crop-variety 

 adaptation. 



While the hills of Massachusetts include a great deal of 

 ideal Baldwin soil, or soil that resembles the ideal closely 

 enough for practical purposes, they also include a great deal 

 of soil that is not well adapted to the Baldwin. The greatly 

 superior color of the fruit from some orchards when compared 

 with that from others on a different kind of soil — elevation, 

 slope, methods of culture and fertilization being virtually the 

 same — gives striking evidence of the importance of the soil 

 factor. On just this basis the fruit from some orchards sells 

 for a higher price than that from others. This illustrates 

 the economic advisability of selecting the orchard site with 

 soils adapted to the variety to be pjanted. 



