4 CIRCULAR 303, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



well supplied with moisture, have had an abundance of plant food, 

 and have grown under rather favorable soil and climatic conditions. 



In this district prevailing winds are from the northwest, and the 

 trees of some orchards show this influence by a slight tendency to 

 lean toward the southeast. A more pronounced tendency, however, 

 is a twisting of the trunks of probably more than 75 percent of all the 

 apple trees from left to right or clockwise. 



This twisting of the trunks of trees is shown in several of the illus- 

 trations on the following pages. Occasionally a trunk may be found 

 in which the twist is in the opposite direction. Trunks of pear and 

 of other fruit trees and of forest trees of this district do not show this 

 prevalence of twisting. When an occasional twisted trunk is found, 

 the direction of twist is quite as often in the opposite direction as it is 

 from left to right. 



The cause of this prevalence in the direction of the twist of apple 

 trees is not definitely known, but it is believed to be owing to the 

 northwest winds and the tendency of the winds to shift from west to 

 east. In well-spaced apple orchards this force exerts an almost 

 constant pull in the direction of twist, while in pear orchards and in 

 the native forests such force cannot be so readily applied. 



VARIETIES OF APPLE TREES 



In this district there is a general recognition of the advantage of 

 using the better soils for orchard planting. These range in color from 

 brown or light brown to reddish brown, and in texture from loam or 

 silt loam to a light fine sandy loam. They are deep and have no 

 tight or compact layers in the subsoil or substratum to a depth of 

 several feet, and have good surface drainage and underdrainage. 



Less attention has been given, however, to the adaptation of the 

 soil to the different apple varieties. Heavy and less well drained 

 soils are generally recognized as being better suited for the Rhode 

 Island Greening and other green apples than for the Baldwin and 

 other highly colored varieties. The Mcintosh is thought to be some- 

 what more resistant to poor drainage conditions than are some other 

 varieties. 



Better coloring, especially early coloring, is obtained on well- 

 drained soils of light texture than on heavy soils, or on those not well 

 drained. The keeping quality of apples grown on soils of medium or 

 heavy texture, however, is said by the managers of cold-storage 

 plants to be superior to that of apples grown on sandy soils where 

 time of ripening is earlier and the ripening process more rapid. The 

 fruit has a better color in orchards in sod than in orchards under 

 cultivation. 



Early plantings in this region consisted largely of the Baldwin, 

 Rhode Island Greening, and Twenty Ounce varieties. Of the trees 

 planted in the Hilton area prior to 1899 these three varieties made 

 up 83 percent. 3 



In orchards planted since that time the Baldwin and Greening 

 make up an important part, but the more recent plantings also include 

 a large percentage of Mcintosh and a somewhat less number of the 

 Cortland, Northern Spy, Delicious, Twenty Ounce, and Ben Davis. 



3 La Mont, T. E. factors affecting thf, incomes of fruit farms in the hilton area, monroe 

 county, n.y. N.Y. (Cornell) Agr. Col. Agr. Econ. 1, 38 p., illus. 1931. [Mimeographed.] 



