Conditions in Western ‘iaryasvud, 
VYhere has been very Littie known untii recent yesrs of tle 
horti¢uitural possibilities which exist in cervein <eetions of 
Western HNaryland, particuleriy in some or the mountainous dis- 
tricts. There is evidence everywhere, hovever, that the possi- 
bilities are great, especially in the development of the apple 
industry, fhe soil over a large portion of this region is well 
adapted to apple growing. Videly scattered over the territcr; 
are numerous seedling epple trees- rieny of which are over uw 
hund~ed vears old- as hardy end vigorous «#s an oak. All throush 
some of these sections grow impenetrable thickets of wild 
crab apple (P-rus coronaria) and h wthorn, So rank is its 
prowte and so abundant 2s ite fruit, that one can not help 
from noticing it when riding past. Where the native ewpple grows 
so abundantiv, it seems strange that commercial fruit growing 
has not sooner become an important industry. The explanation 
however, is obvious, Nearly every farm in these sections have 
nad orchsrds for generations past. There are aimost numberless 
sien orchards, varying in Size trom 90 to 200 er S00 Litees, 
and in some cases as many as 600 or s00 trees, Tle most of tnese 
orchards recieved no care, cr at best, only indifferent atten- 
tion; the fruit wass as a whole correspondingly poor and tore 
than that, there seened ta be only a. slight disposition on 
(-8-) 
