APPLES 95 
Nanot,''* in his treatise upon the cider 
apple, thus speaks of the soil as bearing 
upon this fruit: 
The apple 18 not very particular as to 
the nature of the soil; it neither dislikes 
very clayey, very limey, nor very sandy 
soils, but the best flavored and longest 
keeping fruits come trom trees grown on 
clay loam. 
Dr. L H. Bauley,'?! speaking of apple 
growing in the Bastern United States, 
says: 
As a rule, rather light or loamy soils, 
with deep and porous subsoils, are best 
adapted to apple growing. Natural drain- 
age is imperative. Apple trees are im- 
patient of wet feet 
At a meeting of the Oregon State Hor- 
ticultural Society, held in Newberg in 
1901, E. L. Smith made the following 
statements while speaking briefly of the 
apple: 
Apples grown on sandy soil will weigh 
much less per bushel than those grown on 
clay or clayey soils, other conditions be- 
ing equal. Apples to be long keepers 
must be grown on soil having some clay. 
In reply to a question relative to this 
point, Col. G. B. Brackett, the pomologist 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
writes (1904): “I know of no experiments 
along this line, but I am inclined to think 
that apples grown upon clay loam, other 
conditions being equal, would be some- 
what heavier than those grown upon 
light, sandy soil. I know that apples that 
are grown on heavy clay soil are apt to 
keep better than those grown upon light, 
sandy, porous soil. Of course, keeping 
qualities depend somewhat upon latitude, 
and also upon the elevation at which they 
are grown.” 
From somewhat extended general ob- 
servations in the apple orchards of West- 
ern Oregon during the past decade or 
more, I am convinced that much of our 
soil is admirably suited to the apple tree. 
The land upon which the Douglas fir 
thrives, when not too steep and rocky, is 
usually well adapted to the culture of 
this fruit. The alluvial soils of the minor 
*** Le Culture du Pomme a Cidre, 1895. 
*e** Tield Notes on Apple Culture, 1893 
valleys when ot a depth of eight to twelve 
feet or more produce thrifty, vigorous, 
long-lived trees. Some of the best old 
orchards in the state are located upon 
the gentle rolling lower hill lands of Yam- 
hill county, while some of the cleanest 
and thriftiest of the younger generation 
orchards are to be found on the red hill 
lands of Polk and Marion counties. In 
the selection of a site on the higher ele- 
vations, or even upon the lower hill lands, 
care must be exercised to the end that 
shallow soils may be avoided. Streaks, 
patches, or larger areas of these lands 
are occasionally underlaid at a depth of 
a few feet by strata of impervious rock. 
Such sites are wholly unfit for orchards. 
Only a close and thoughtful inspection of 
hill land tracts will enable one to avoid 
setting trees on soil too shallow for the 
successful growth of long-lived and fruit- 
ful trees. 
Many excellent small orchards are to 
be found upon the river bottom lands in 
all parts of the Willamette valley. While 
these latter sites are well suited to the 
growth of the apple tree, it is probable 
that better returns horticulturally may 
be obtained by the cultivation upon such 
sites of the smaller fruits and the choicer 
vegetables, especially when nearby mar- 
kets are reasonably good. The latter 
crops cannot be grown upon the higher 
lands with the same degree of success as 
attend their culture upon the river bot- 
toms, while with the apple there is no 
apparent difference save, perhaps, in the 
degree of earliness with which the trees 
begin to bear profitable crops. 
Generally speaking, orchards upon bot- 
tom lands will begin to bear from one to 
three years later than those upon the 
higher lands. There are well known in- 
stances in which trees planted upon river 
bottom land, as a result of an abundance 
of water, have extended their vegetative 
period three to four years beyond the 
normal period of the same varieties when 
grown upon correspondingly good upland 
sites. The economics of horticulture 
would appear to point toward the uplands 
as affording the more promising sites for 
the apple orchard, since the value of such 
lands will not increase as fast as that of 
