12 ORCHARD FRUITS IN VIRGINIA AND OTHER STATES. 



Two orchards are located side by side, both having similar natural 

 advantages. One is well cultivated and sprayed; the other un- 

 sprayed and the soil impoverished. The fact that the fruit of a 

 variety in the first orchard is large, finely developed, and free from 

 insect and fungous defects and that in the second the same variety is 

 small, imperfectly developed, and rendered worthless by its apparent 

 susceptibility to some disease or insect is not due so much to the in- 

 herent merits or faults of the variety in terms of its commercial value 

 for that particular locality as it is to the man in charge, as measured 

 by the methods employed in caring for his orchard. 



These fruit district investigations have a twofold basis of applica- 

 tion. On one basis a variety is considered from the standpoint of its 

 commercial value, and the influence upon it of the artificial conditions 

 imposed by cultivation, spraying, and the other operations which go 

 to make up the present-day progressive methods of orchard manage- 

 ment is taken into account. By these methods the grower is able to 

 overcome in a measure the natural or inherent susceptibility of a 

 variety to disease and other kinds of imperfections. In this view of 

 the case, the chief concern of the grower is to know that the variety 

 in question will respond readily and completely to the influence of the 

 artificial conditions which he is able to maintain and that under such 

 conditions the commercial value of the crop will be relatively large in 

 proportion to the cost of production. 



The second point of view is the scientific aspect of the adaptability 

 of varieties. In this phase of the investigations a variety is considered 

 not under the forced conditions of a highly cultivated orchard with 

 the application of every practicable means for increasing and perfect- 

 ing the product, but rather under conditions where influences imposed 

 by man are eliminated as completely as possible. If a variety thus 

 develops under natural conditions — that is, with no special attention 

 from man — its behavior may be taken as the expression of its innate 

 characteristics and capabilities when grown under the natural condi- 

 tions of soil, climate, etc., which exist in the particular place where it 

 is grown. The ability of one variety over another to resist some 

 disease, to develop to some special degree of perfection, or to manifest 

 some other individual peculiarity is frequently noted in orchards 

 which are in a much-neglected condition. While the commercial 

 aspect is of the greater importance from a pecuniary point of view, the 

 scientific phase is in reality the fundamental consideration. In con- 

 ducting the investigations, the aim is to give each aspect the weight of 

 its true significance. 



As previously implied, the fundamental principle underlying the 

 fruit district investigations has long been recognized and much valu- 

 able information accumulated in regard to the requirements of 



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