ADAPTATION OF VARIETIES TO SOILS 19 



variety must be such as to be held in control, making sure that 

 the wood growth is not too rapid. In North Alabama the DeKalb 

 fine sandy loam is the best soil for the Arkansas. From its adapta- 

 tion it will be seen that very cheap lands may be used for growing 

 this variety, and if one has such soils and wishes to turn them to 

 apple orcharding, moderate returns may be obtained from growing 

 the Arkansas. From a commercial viewpoint, however, there are 

 few growers who do not possess enough better orcharding land 

 to make it unnecessary to grow this apple ; and even on the thin 

 soils it is probable that other varieties, such as the Ben Davis, 

 would be far more profitable. 



Newtown Pippin. The Yellow Newtown has always been regarded 

 as exacting in soil requirements, as well as climatic environment. 

 Great stress has been laid upon this point in Virginia, where it 

 has received the local name of Albemarle Pippin. An ideal soil 

 for this variety in Virginia consists of dark-brown, heavy mellow 

 loam to a depth of twelve inches, which grows gradually heavier to 

 twenty-four inches, where it becomes a clay loam. This clay loam, 

 however, is not stiff. Heavier soils are also well adapted to this 

 variety if there is sufficient decayed vegetable matter present to 

 render them friable. This is very noticeable with the Porters clay. 

 Such soils, rich in plant food and retentive of moisture, furnish 

 ideal conditions for this variety, which requires a luxuriant growth 

 of tree to produce the crisp grain and delicate flavor of fruit, as 

 well as a profitable yield. So well did the Yellow Newtown thrive 

 in protected coves of the Porters series of soils in Virginia, where 

 the leaves and vegetable debris had collected for so long that the 

 surface material was black to a general depth of several inches 

 and to a depth of several feet in particular cases, that it was only 

 natural in the course of time for the idea to prevail that a great 

 accumulation of organic matter in the soil was a preliminary 

 essential for success with this variety. 



Again, the enormous amounts of accumulated vegetable matter 

 changed heavy clay loams, and even clays, into deep, friable soils, 

 thus furnishing the moist, productive conditions so necessary for 

 the Yellow Newtown. Hence the belief that the Yellow Newtown 

 should be planted only on a black soil became firmly grounded. 

 Yet many orchard soils chosen with this characteristic in mind 



