1414 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



does not say wJiether he thinks the soil 

 of Long Island is naturally as fertile as 

 the soil of Holland, but evidently from 

 his report he thinks it can be made so. 

 In order to remedy this lack of product- 

 ivity, the Long Island Railroad Company 

 established, in 1905, an experiment station 

 that brought to the people such favor- 

 able results that the state is now estab- 

 lishing a station designed to accommodate 

 1,000 students. 



The soils of this island consist of 

 stony loams, sandy loams and sands 

 along the glacial morains forming the 

 northern and central portions of the 

 high lands. Sloping from these morains 

 down to the sea level the soils are of 

 much the same character with a larger 

 percentage of sands as "glacial outwash." 

 All of these soils with proper treatment 

 are adapted to the growing of fruits and 

 vegetables, and being so near the mar- 

 kets are at an advantage as compared 

 with the sections of the country farther 

 away. 



The best apple-growing counties are 

 Duchess, with 303,105 bearing trees; 

 Erie, 472,932, Genesee, 300,865; Monroe, 

 702,840; Ontario, 369,050; Orleans, 549,- 

 749; Wayne, 812,410. With the excep- 

 tion of Duchess, which is located in the 

 southeast, and Ontario, located in the cen- 

 tral west and affected by several small 

 lakes the largest of which are Seneca 

 and Canandaigua, the greatest apple- 

 growing counties are in the west and 

 northwest in a glacial soil or a part of 

 the old lake bed, with the climate tem- 

 pered by the waters of the lakes. The 

 greatest peach-growing districts are 

 Monroe and Niagara in the west with 

 339,375 and 591,350 trees respectively and 

 Ulster m the southeast near the Hudson 

 river with 313,350 bearing trees. 



The greatest grape-growing sections 

 are the counties of Chautauqua with 15,- 

 782,646 vines; Brie, 1,141,278; Ontario, 1,- 

 831,644; Ulster, 1,969,301; Yates, 5,123,- 

 572. 



The largest acreage of strawberries is 

 in the counties of Erie, 596, and Ulster, 

 895. Oswego had in the past the great- 

 est acreage of strawberries, but accord- 



ing to the last census several other coun- 

 ties are ahead of it 



All of the hardy fruits can be grown in 

 New York, and, on account of its rela- 

 tion to waters that modify the atmos- 

 phere, some of the fruits that are of the 

 tender varieties are grown. 



New York has sent out more litera- 

 ture on fruits than any other state in 

 the Union. Special mention should be 

 made of the book entitled the "Apples 

 of New York," and of the voluminous 

 writings of Professor L. H. Bailey, of 

 Cornell University, who has ably and 

 scientifically treated almost every phase 

 of the agricultural and horticultural 

 field. According to Professor Bailey, the 

 apple best adapted to New York is the 

 Baldwin, "and it has no close second." 

 The Northern Spy, Rhode Island Green- 

 ing and American Golden Russet, are im- 

 portant commercial varieties. 



In the number of bearing fruit trees of 

 all kinds, Missouri stands first, California 

 second and New York third. In the value 

 of orchard crops, California is first and 

 New York second. 



Geanville Lowther 



Origin and Development of Apple Culture 

 in Hew York 



We are indebted to S. A. Beach, N. O. 

 Booth and 0. M. Taylor, horticulturists 

 of New York, in the **Apples of New 

 York," for the following history of ap- 

 ple culture in that state : 



"The principal native fruits of New 

 York, in addition to the wild crab, are 

 the wild strawberries, red raspberries, 

 black raspberries, dewberries, blackber- 

 ries, elderberries, cranberries, huckle- 

 berries, blueberries, the beach plum along 

 the coast, the wild red or Canada plum 

 along the valley of the St. Lawrence, the 

 wild red or yellow plum of Central or 

 Southern New York, the fox grapes in the 

 eastern or southeastern part of the state, 

 the summer grape of the southern coun- 

 ties, and the river bank or frost grape 

 of general distribution. Improved varie- 

 ties of the native grapes and of many 

 of the small fruits are now extensively 

 grown both for home use and for the 

 market, but so far as New York state is 



