50 FARM MANAGEMENT 



old that are still bearing. These trees have persisted in 

 spite of neglect, because the climate is so favorable for tree 

 growth. The heat that makes a good crop of corn or 

 cotton is unfavorable for apples. Fruit trees do not re- 

 quire so rich a soil as is necessary for corn. The peach tree 

 is as readily injured by too rich a soil as by too poor a soil. 

 On the best corn land, apples and pears blight badly. 

 There are some good apple regions in irrigated sections 

 of the West, but their area is small in comparison with the 

 vast area in the Eastern States that is adapted to apples. 

 In 1909, New York raised more apples than all the states 

 west of Iowa. 



40. Truck-crops. Crops that require much hand 

 labor, as truck-crops, are usually grown on light soils, 

 because such soils will grow a crop earlier and because 

 there is much hand labor. Sandy soils are much easier 

 worked than clay soils. The muck or peat soils are best 

 of all. There are two general truck regions, one about each 

 city and one in the South for supplying early vegetables. 

 41. Topography. Danger of erosion may require that 

 the land be kept in sod. Steep hillsides may prevent the 

 use of machinery. When the work was done with hand 

 tools, the side hills were not at so great a disadvantage. 

 Many side hills have been turned into hay, pasture, or 

 forest, or have been abandoned because machinery could 

 not be used on them to good advantage. Every new 

 machine that is invented makes the earning of a living 

 more difficult for the man who cannot use the machine. If 

 he must compete with a machine by his hand labor, he 

 must reduce his standard of living or change his type of 

 farming. 



42. Animals. Live-stock is also much affected by cli- 

 mate. One of the most striking cases is the failure of the 



