136 POMOLOGY 



ist in determining cultural requirements. Some plants are 

 distinctly "lime-loving," such as most of the legumes 

 (alfalfa, clovers), others are equally "acid-loving," as the 

 Heath family and the chestnut (Castanea dentata), while 

 others are cosmopolitan so far as the soil requirement is 

 concerned. Among the fruits, the following are adapted to 

 sour soils: blueberry, cranberry, strawberiy, blackbeny, 

 and red and blackcap raspberries; while the currant is listed 

 as injured by sour soils. ^ It would seem from observation 

 that most fruit-trees, especially the apple, stand on middle 

 ground so far as the lime requirement is concerned. They 

 are neither distinctly hme- nor acid-loving (as these terms 

 are commonly used) but flourish in both types until the dis- 

 tinctly alkaline soils are reached on the one hand and the 

 bog soils on the other. There is a popular belief that the 

 apple does best on a limestone soil, but this would be diffi- 

 cult to establish. The idea doubtless has its source in the 

 fact that a limestone soil is frequently fertile and that many 

 very fine orchards happen to be located in limestone dis- 

 tricts. As a matter of fact, the non-calcareous soils are 

 often preferred, even when either would be available. This 

 is particularly true for the peach. 



Thus it is difficult to find evidence to answer this question 

 in the affirmative since the eye does not detect any out- 

 standing differences and, generally speaking, fruit-trees do 

 as well in the non-calcareous regions as in the limestone 

 areas. It would seem that Hilgard has put the matter too 

 strongly so far as orchard fruits are concerned when he says, 

 "The abundant fruiting of oaks on such lands as compared 

 with the same species on non-calcareous soils is a matter of 

 common note in the Mississippi Valley states; and the same 

 is true of other trees, and of herbaceous plants as well." ^ 



1 Lyon, Fippin, Buckman. Soils, p. 384. New York. 1915. 

 ^Loco cit. p. 503. 



