No. 4.] SOIL VARIATION. 27 



]\[r. Wii-DEi{, Ideas differ, but I don't think it makes much 

 difference in Massachusetts. On the Alleghany front in West 

 Virginia peaches are profitable on the eastern slopes, clear up 

 to the top, but on the western slopes, where the conditions are 

 exactly the same, except that in the winter they have sleet 

 storms that are likely to bi-eak the trees down, peach growing 

 is not profitable. The reverse is true of western slopes in 

 Georgia and other southeastern States, because there they 

 have very rapid changes of temperature in the spring, and if 

 they can have a northwestern slope it will retard the blooming 

 period a little, so that the blooms are not nearly as likely to 

 be nipped by late frosts. The wind is the principal factor 

 in considering the matter of slope in many cases, and I should 

 not like to plant on any slo])e where the prevailing wind is 

 so strong that the trees would all lean in any particular 

 direction. 



Prof. Wm. p. Buooks. The question related particularly 

 to Baldwin apples, which are valuable in proportion to the 

 high color. Would not the slope affect the amount of sunshine 

 and so the color in some cases ? 



Mr. WiLDEK. Undoul)tedly ; but as the matter of avoiding 

 late frosts is of some importance with the apple, though not 

 as much as with peaches, each individual must be governed 

 by his circumstances, and select the slope for color or for 

 avoiding frosts as seems best in his judgment. 



Mr. Jas. F. Rice. I presume the soil on Mr. Smith's 

 farm, which you have examined, represents the soil in this 

 part of the county. To what commercial variety is it best 

 adapted ? 



Mr. Wilder. The Baldwin would invariably do well on 

 that soil, but I would not assume that his soil represents all 

 the soil in this section, because there is unquestionably a 

 great deal of variation in it. I have in mind two Baldwin 

 orchards in this State and county, each at approximately 

 the same altitude, both on the easterly slope, with the same 

 exposure to sunlight, and having received roughly the same 

 methods of care ; but there was a great difference in the soil, 

 and apples from one orchard brought much more than those 



