FRUITS IN WEST VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY, AND TENNESSEE. 15 



POMOLOGICAI, FEATURES. 



Much of that part of the Allegheny Plateau region lying in Ken- 

 tucky is valuable at present chiefly for its immense deposits of coal 

 and for its forest covering. The soils are thin and wash easily. 

 The country is broken and much of it not readily accessible. Good 

 orchard sites are found occasionally and utilized, but usually the 

 fruit from such orchards is sold locally. In a rather narrow strip 

 along the western border of this part of the region the conditions 

 are more favorable, and there are profitable apple and peach or- 

 chards at many places. The more important apple varieties are the 

 Winesap, Grimes Golden, Rome Beauty, Ben Davis, and York Im- 

 perial, while the peach orchards are composed largely of the Elberta 

 variety. 



In the West Virginia portion of this region the country is as 

 broken as in Kentucky 7 , but because the humus is retained in the soil 



Fig. 7. — A typical apple orchard at Gallipolis Ferry, W. Va.„ in the Allegheny Plateau 

 region of West Virginia, bordering on the Ohio River. 



much better the soils do not wash as badly and are more fertile than 

 those in Kentucky. Because the country is so broken it is not par- 

 ticularly well adapted to general farming. In some parts grazing has 

 been found profitable. In other parts the country is so rough that it 

 should remain devoted to forests. Where the hills are not too steep 

 and the contour not too broken good orchard sites are found. 



On the hills along the Ohio River an important apple section has 

 been developed, while occasional individual orchards are situated, 

 for the mostpart, on the higher slopes of the hills throughout the 

 interior of West Virginia. Because of the danger of washing, very 

 few of these orchards are cultivated. Figures 7 and 8 show typical 

 orchards in this part of the region. 



The variety of apple commonly grown and characteristic of the 

 portion of this region in West Virginia north to the Panhandle is 

 the Rome Beauty. Other important varieties grown are Grimes 

 Golden, York Imperial, Ben Davis. Gano, and Stayman Winesap. 

 Fruits other than the apple are of minor importance." 



