SOILS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 69 



ence seems due solely to the greater retentiveness of the one, the 

 extra moisture thereby retained so lowering the specific heat of the 

 subsoil as materially to defer the ripening of fruit or other products. 

 If there be excessive humidity just before picking time, however, 

 this additional moisture may cause the fruit to go down more quickly 

 than that from subsoils less retentive of moisture. 



Judging from the experience of a very large number of growers in 

 Connecticut and in other States, combined with field observations, 

 it seems evident that the Champion peach is especially sensitive to 

 any condition of subsoil which hinders the ready movement of mois- 

 ture within a probable depth of as much as 4 feet from the surface. 

 This would include not only those conditions which tend toward 

 hardpan, but also the subsoils whose clay and silt content is sufficient 

 to render them compact or close, particularly the clays and the clay 

 loams. 



While the surface soil should not be. heavy enough to form clods, 

 its character is of much less importance than that of the subsoil. 



Notwithstanding the fact that a fairly strong soil is desirable for 

 the best tree growth and size of fruit, it is very easy so to overdo 

 these tendencies that the fruit neither matures well nor ships well. 

 If the picking season happens to be wet the rotting tendency of 

 Champion is increased and such a season is almost fatal to this 

 variety when grown on rich strong ground. So it seems that 

 Champion is best planted on soils of only medium productivity, but 

 they should be sufficiently loamy and deep for the variety to be held 

 well within control. There should be not too much humus, yet just 

 enough. The soil-and subsoil should be held so closely in hand that 

 a little fertilization will increase the size of the fruit if necessary, 

 and conversely that the fruit may be held in check if the shipping 

 quality is not satisfactory. The best results, averaging seasons, have 

 come from light porous soils such as medium to heavy friable sandy 

 loams underlain by material not heavier than a friable loam, and 

 preferably by a heavy sandy loam. Too great porosity of the entire 

 soil section may entail, however, more risk from droughty periods 

 than would appear from rot on a soil section a little heavier, hence 

 soils may be too sandy and loose even for the Champion. 



Carman and Mountain Rose are not quite so dependent as the 

 Champion on soils that drain out hastily, and while they succeed best 

 on soils of a little greater moisture-holding capacity than the Cham- 

 pion, they nevertheless give the best results on deep and well-drained 

 soils. They do very well indeed on the Wethersfield loam which 

 seems for them a typical soil condition. They are also grown with 

 success on heavy sandy loams and on the light silty loams of the 

 Wethersfield series and the Middlefield series where the subsoil is 



