9 



rather heavy soil, while apples do well on various types of 

 soil, running from fairly light to rather heavy. As a matter 

 of fact, in the case of apples, the work of Mr. H. J. Wilder 

 and others has shown fairly definitely the soil preferences of 

 certain varieties of apples, and we recognize that a Hubbard- 

 ston or a Wealthy does well on light soil, while a Mcintosh 

 or a Baldwin requires a medium type of soil, and a Rhode 

 Island Greening a rather heavy type of soil. 



(3) A third item to be considered in the surface soil is the 

 ease with which it can be worked. Very stony land or heavy 

 clay land would be scored down under the head of difficulty 

 in working it, though it might be good enough in other re- 

 spects to more than offset this. 



(4) A fourth item would be the question of whether the 

 soil is sour or not. While it has not yet been definitely shown 

 that apple trees prefer an alkaline soil, we do know that lime- 

 stone districts are particularly noted for their fine fruit, and 

 that the cover crops which we wish to grow in the orchard 

 will not thrive, at least most of them will not, on an acid 

 soil. This means that in case the soil in our block is sour, it 

 will be necessary to apply lime to correct that condition. 



(5) A fifth item would be the humus content of the soil. 

 It will be found that young trees will start off much better 

 on soil which is fairly well supplied with humus, and while 

 this deficiency may be made up through the agency of barn 

 manure or cover crops, it will be found that the soils which 

 need humus most are the last ones to grow satisfactory cover 

 crops. One will therefore find it a slow proposition to correct 

 this deficiency. 



Turning now to .the subsoil, we have the question of the 

 fertility of this subsoil, whether it is a pure sand and carries 

 relatively small quantities of plant food, or a gravelly clay 

 which may be decidedly fertile. This point is more impor- 

 tant than is usually recognized, since the great bulk of the 

 root system of our trees is down in the subsoil and not in 

 the surface soil. One ought also to consider the ease with 

 which the roots can penetrate this subsoil. Ledges and stiff 

 clay hardpan would both be objectionable from this standpoint. 



