THE ILLIIS'OIS FAEMEE. 



jAJf. 



of the best known apples, for the use of planters. 



It will be proper, in this place, to say some- 

 thing about the soils best adapted to orcharding. 

 The apple is a gross feerler, but a good-natured 

 one, and. like a good citizen and a cosmopolite, 

 it subniils to surrouDding circumstances. In our 

 own ciuntry it flourishes alike on the granite 

 hills of New England, or the mountain ranges 

 stretching thence to the southwest, in the lime- 

 stone valleys amid these ridges, on the sandstones 

 and shales that form the southeastern rim of the 

 great valley of the West, upon the vast drift for- 

 mations that overlie the rocks from the tide-wn- 

 ters of the St. Lawrence to the sources of the 

 Missouri, upon the rich diluvial and aUuvial de- 

 posits of our river bottoms, and our vast praivies. 

 I have said that the apple flourithes alike upon 

 these various soils and under these so different 

 circumstances; perhaps this expression should 

 be somewhat modified; there are varieties that 

 appear peculiarly adapted by their nature for all 

 of thes" different situations; there are, perhaps, 

 none that will thrive equally well in all. 



The orchardists of each section of the coantry 

 must ascertMin for themselves what varieties are 

 best adapted to the peculiarities of ttie soil and 

 climate ; heuce, no one region can furnish list- of 

 varieties to be take'n as a guide for the planting 

 of others differently situated. Hence, too, the 

 importance of local organizations for pomological 

 study, and tht» great value of the labors of those 

 who are engaged in the prosecution of these in- 

 vestigations in the American Pomological Socie- 

 ty, w.hich will. It is fondly hoped, ultimately give 

 ns corrected lists of fruits that are adapted to all 

 the varying circumstances of soil and climatf>, in 

 each of the geological regions of our country. 

 This has already been proposed by the excellent 

 general chairman of Fruit committees, as an im- 

 portant work for the National Society ; and so 

 soon as the subject receives a fair consideration, 

 its merits will be appreciated, and the union of 

 the best minds, and the best experience of the 

 pomologiits of each district, will be brought to 

 concentrate upon this labor. 



Let me net be misapprehended in the statement 

 just made in regard to the wide distribution of 

 which the apple appears to be capable. There 

 are soils and situations in all of the widely-sep- 

 arated regions allnded to, that are wholly unfit- 

 ted to orchard culture, u...on which it were folly 

 to plant an apple-tree ; and yet, many of those 

 may be rendered entirely suitable, if subjected 

 to treatment suggested by science and executed 

 by human ingenuity and industry; the missing 

 element m.iy be supplied, tho compactness of the 

 soil may be overcome by artificial comminution, 

 and by that effected by aeration ; the excessive 

 moisture may be removed by surface and thor- 

 ough drainage; other disqualifications, such as 

 those of situation and climate, may not be so 

 readily overcome ; they have alreaiiy been alluded 

 to; and even in them we may hope for improve- 

 ment with the advance of science. 



Different soils may be designated porous and 

 compact. Leaving out of view, for the present, 

 their chemical composition, let us look to their 

 mechanical structure. Porous soils are compo- 

 sed of materials that always allow of the escape 



of superabundant moisture; they are generally 

 underlaid by beds of diluvial gravels, or by rocks 

 of a porous character. Such lands are peculiarly 

 adapted to orchard planting. The compact soil, 

 on the contrary, is made up of the finest mate- 

 rials, among which alumina largely predominates. 

 Such are called clayey soils, or clays, and are 

 among the most valuable upon the surface of the 

 earth, not because alumina is a component of 

 vegetation, but because the elements are all of 

 them in a state of extreme comminution. 



Clays are compact soils, not only by reason of 

 the fineness of their particles, but because the 

 predominating alumina swells and becomes pasty 

 when it is wet, and thus prevents the passage of 

 water through them. )nthis account, soils that 

 are too compact, especially if they be underlaid 

 by stiff clay subsoils, are not so well adapted to 

 orcharding as those that are more porous. This 

 is especially true. of level lands, upon which wa 

 ter accumulates, to the great injury of the fruit- 

 t''ees planted upon them; but even in hilly sit- 

 ua-ions, with good natural surface drainage, the 

 excess of clay is indicated by a spouty condition 

 of the surface. So many varieties succeed in 

 clayey lands, however, and somf; are so superior 

 in their product when planted upon clays, we 

 need not be discouraged by this apparent difficul- 

 ty; it may be overcome by the ingenuity of the 

 skillful farmer. Thorough or underdrainage will 

 remedy all the evils of clay soils, and bring out 

 their superior advantages. This will be more 

 fully explained in another place. Much may be 

 done toward removing the redundant moisture, 

 even in the flat clay lands of thep'-airies and oth- 

 er extended plateans, by the simple means of 

 ridging up the lands with the plow What is fa- 

 miliarly called "back-furrowing"' enables the 

 plowman to raise a ridge upon which to plant his 

 trees, and at the same time he opens a furrow 

 for the escape of surface water. While a port'on 

 of the redundant moisture is thus removed, an- 

 other great object of drainage is not attained; 

 I allude to the aeration of the soil. 



From what has been said upon a previous page, 

 it might be inferred, that as the apple may bo 

 cultivated upon soils of such great diversity as 

 those that occur over the rang ; of territory indi- 

 cated, as well as upon the western coast of this 

 continent, and in the temperate regions of the 

 Old World, the peculiar soils that are character- 

 ized by their underlying rocks would be equally 

 acceptable, whether these were granites, shales, 

 sandstones, or limestones. Such is not the fact, 

 however, and we have found, in this utilitarian 

 age, that geology has much to do with the plant- 

 ing of an orchard. There are varieties that suc- 

 ceed better upon one rock than upon another, and 

 there are those that fail to be remunerative when 

 transplanted to a rock, which to them is obnox- 

 ious, though it may be a very paradise to other 

 varieties. 



These observations are becoming a matter of 

 great impoitance to orchardists, and we may 

 hope that the study of this subject will be devel- 

 oped into some certain data, and that the future 

 discussions of our pomological societies will fur- 

 nish reliable information to future planters. 



