SOILS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 31 



soils possess some peculiar advantage in their adaptability to orchard 

 fruits has undoubtedly arisen from the success of many orchards 

 located on stony hills. The facts that the soils were in a large num- 

 ber of cases friable, deep, and at least fairly productive, and that 

 air drainage was excellent have apparently made less impression on 

 the mind than has the stony appearance of the surface. 



The fact that a soil is stony does not necessarily imply that it is 

 productive, even though friable and deep. But if apples are to be 

 grown with profit when competition is keen, as it is periodically 

 certain to be, the soil must be productive, or at least capable of be- 

 ing economically brought to a productive state and so maintained. 

 To this point too little attention has been given. 



As to the adaptability of well-selected soils, the price of land, and 

 good markets the opportunities for successful orcharding in southern 

 New England are exceptionally good. To certain features of the 

 business, however, attention should be called. 



In the current rapid expansion of orchard acreage there is a strong 

 tendency to reduce every project to a strictly commercial basis of 

 large proportions. Hundred-acre orchards no longer cause sur- 

 prise, as various individuals and companies operate several times this 

 acreage, and many more very large projects have been begun. On 

 undertakings of such magnitude is the cry of future overproduction 

 chiefly based. There is no denying the probability that the average 

 wholesale markets of the future will be materially affected by fruit 

 from these extensive plantings. But the economic efficiency attained 

 in the individual development of these orchards, and the grade of 

 fruit marketed will be very important factors in determining the 

 financial outcome. 



The history of orcharding has shown, moreover, that extensive 

 planting is spasmodic. High prices lead to such an increase of plant- 

 ing that prices are eventually forced down whenever a large per- 

 centage of localities in the whole country happen to bear a full crop 

 because of favorable seasonal conditions. The high prices and ex- 

 tensive plantings of the last several years make it seem very probable 

 that the crest of such a wave may be approaching, and that prices ere 

 long will be lower. When such condition arrives the survival of the 

 fittest is the universal law that applies. It is at this point that the 

 importance of selection of orchard site, soil, and location with ref- 

 erence to markets or shipping facilities becomes most apparent. 

 Adequate care after planting must be given in all cases, but it alone 

 is not sufficient where competition becomes acute. Cheapness in pro- 

 duction of fruit demanded by extensive markets determines the value 

 of most orchard projects, and orchards that are deficient in these 

 various attributes are soonest forced out of business. This is not 

 taken to mean, however, that profitable orcharding may not be 



