25 



sheim. The Rhinegau is not, properly speaking, an apple-growing 

 district, as here the grape overtops everything in importance, but I 

 found the cider industry well represented as far down the Rhine as 

 Schierstein. 



The Taunus' region is said by well-posted German students to be 

 the best apple district in Germaiw. This district is not large, and 

 comprises the western and southwestern slopes of the Taunus Moun- 

 tains. The orchards occur occasionally even down on the more level 

 drift soils of the floor of the Rhine Valley, but usually the flat lands 

 along the Rhine are occupied by cultivated farm crops, or where spurs 

 of the foothills jut down into the Rhine plain they are oftener occupied 

 by vineyards than by orchards. 



The Taunus Mountains are not high, being about 1,300 or 1,400 feet 

 at Cronberg, and nowhere in this district do they rise above 2,000 

 feet. The} T slope gradually to the foothills and alluvial lands of the 

 lower levels, presenting gentle grassy slopes and rolling uplands, 

 generally easy to till and presenting no difficulties whatever for 

 orcharding. The Rhine plain has here an elevation averaging about 

 300 feet above sea level. 



The higher levels of the Taunus show some outcrops of shales, over- 

 lying igneous rocks of great variety, as gneiss, mica, and feldspathic 

 schists. The slopes occupied by the great orchards show a clayey 

 soil, with much gravel intermingled, and, while not very rich, good 

 care has kept it well supplied with humus and in good condition. 

 The trees are of great size and vigor, and so far as observed, the 

 fruit growers do not have to contend with the numerous insect and 

 fungous troubles met in this country. The exposure is ideal for fruit 

 growing in a country so far north; and, in general characteristics, 

 this would be considered a typically fine orchard section. 



The Taunus country has climatic and soil conditions strikingly dif- 

 ferent from those found in the French orchard country. This German 

 district has a continental climate more like that found in America 

 than that of France, and the whole environment is essentially like that 

 of many American orchard regions. The character of the apples 

 grown and their chemical composition are much closer to American 

 types than to French. Many varieties are grown for culinary and 

 dessert uses, and the low-grade fruit, along with some distinctly cider 

 apples, is employed for cider-making purposes. 



In some places the orchards cover the hillsides, all types, ages, and 

 qualities intermingled without much system. And here was seen for 

 the first time the giant trees of Pyrus (Sorbus) domestica, whose fruits 

 are used to mix with ordinary apples to produce the highest grades of 

 cider. The lowland orchards did not have the vigorous appearance 

 of those on higher levels, and often those in flat fields were heavily 

 cropped under the trees, while the uplands were usually in grass. 



