26 THE APPLE 



shale, the latter when in small pieces of disintegrated rock being 

 characterized by a soapy feel. 



The surface of this soapstone land consists for the most part 

 of a mellow friable loam, which is usually silty and in local areas 

 is a silt loam, very mellow in character. The surface soil is from 

 eight to twelve inches deep, with a medium brown color. This 

 soil is extremely friable and workable. The subsoil consists of 

 yellow friable loam, which usually grades into silty clay loam at a 

 depth of from twenty to thirty inches. 



Both soil and subsoil contain from 10 to 20 per cent of smooth, 

 shaly fragments. These particles are of yellowish color, small 

 and crumbly, seldom exceeding one-quarter inch and mostly from 

 one-sixteenth to one-eighth inch in diameter. The amount of 

 these increases slightly with depth to an average depth of thirty 

 inches, below which is found a subsoil of smooth, plastic yellow 

 clay loam to clay. 



From the preceding descriptions of definite soil occurrence, 

 an idea of the soils adapted to the York Imperial may be obtained. 

 Extensive areas of soil types mapped and described in various 

 reports of the Bureau of Soils are also well adapted to this apple. 

 Among them the Hagerstown loam may be prominently mentioned. 

 Some excellent soils for this variety are the Porters clay and the 

 Floradale stony loam, including the " copperstone," the " gray 

 flint," and the " white flint " phases. The surface soils are friable, 

 gray-brown clay loams or heavy loams. 



The Chester loam and the Chester stony loam, as they occur in 

 Pennsylvania, also in central Maryland, and extending for a little 

 way into northern Virginia in the vicinity of Leesburg, are also 

 excellent. 



The York Imperial is unsatisfactory in the North. This variety 

 should not be grown where the Baldwin succeeds. 



