Choice of Varieties 155 



Davis apple. The South and mid-South have been planted 

 extensively to the Kieffer pear, largely because it thrives 

 better over a large area than most other varieties. It is 

 doubtful, then, whether it is wise to plant it extensively 

 in the North, where other pears will thrive that do not 

 succeed in the Kieffer region. Probably in every state or 

 province certain varieties are considered to be especially 

 adapted to certain regions, as the Rome Beauty apple to 

 southern Ohio. Such adaptations should be considered. 

 Any region should grow most freely that type of fruit 

 which it can grow best and which other regions cannot 

 grow so well. The lists of fruits recommended for different 

 regions by the American Pomological Society are very 

 suggestive in this regard. 



4. The choice should consider the local conditions, as 

 the adaptation of the variety to the particular climate, to 

 the probable length of season, to distance from market, 

 and to the system of husbandry. The adaptation of varie- 

 ties to soils is an important consideration, and one that 

 demands closer attention as cultivation becomes more 

 intense and perfect; but the question is yet imperfectly 

 understood, except perhaps with strawberries and few 

 outstanding varieties of other fruits. As a rule, the finer 

 the variety in quality, the less able it is to thrive equally 

 well imder diverse and particularly under careless methods 

 of treatment. It is partly for this reason that dessert fruits 

 are conunonly regarded as unreliable and difficult to grow. 

 One can scarcely hope for success in the best horticulture 

 unless he gives particular study to the adaptations of 

 species and varieties to soils. 



5. One should seek to determine the best varieties for 

 a given purpose by experimenting, by diligent inquiry of 

 neighbors, pomologists, nurserymen, marketmen, and by 



