FRUITS IX WEST VIRGINIA. KENTUCKY, AND TENNESSEE. 23 



friable subsoil and should be well drained. Soils for orchards need 

 to be deeper and have a more friable subsoil than for strawberries. 

 Soils for the strawberry, however, must have a good moisture supply. 

 Soils for peaches, in general, should be lighter than for apples. The 

 reason for this is that the peach is even more susceptible than the 

 apple to poor drainage, and the lighter types are usually better 

 drained than the heavy soils. Furthermore, the varieties of fruit 

 differ in their soil adaptation, some thriving better on the heavier 

 types and others on the lighter types. For example, currants and 

 gooseberries are best adapted to clay and other heavy soils. Peaches 

 are grown mostly on the lighter soils. The Klondike strawberry suc- 

 ceeds on a wide range of soil types, while the Aroma does best on a 

 heavy silt and the Gandy on a clay soil. In these regions, then, a soil 

 adapted to the particular variety of the fruit to be grown should be 

 selected. 



Suitable soils for the desirable varieties of each fruit are found in 

 nearlv every section of these regions. In the Gulf Coastal Plains 



Fig. 15. — The same orchard shown in Figure 14, but photographed one week later. 

 Note that the trees in the hollow are in full bloom, while those on the higher elevations 

 are past full bloom. Photographed at Gerrardstown, W. Va.. April 13, 1910. 



region the silt soils are the types of primary importance in fruit 

 growing. In the Interior Low Plateau region the soils of limestone 

 origin and in the Allegheny Plateau region the upland silt and clay 

 soils and the soils of limestone origin are the most important types, 

 while in the Virginia Valley and Ridge region in West Virginia, and 

 in the Fast Tennessee Valley region, the limestone soils are best for 

 fruits. In the East Tennessee Valley region and to some extent in 

 other regions strawberries are grown on sandy soils, and certain 

 varieties do well on such types. Peaches in the valley and ridge 

 regions are grown also on soils derived from shales and do very well 

 on red-shale (Penn sand loam) soil types. 



Under the descriptions of the physical features of each pomologi- 

 cal region references have been made to the publications giving infor- 

 mation on the soils of the region. These should be studied in order 

 to learn the variations in the soil types in each region and the 

 methods of handling the particular soil type in order to get the best 

 results. 



