APPLES 
trees are well cultivated or mulched they 
will produce small fruit. On account of 
the continuous loss of moisture from 
southern slopes it is found that the soils 
on them are almost invariably thinner 
and poorer than on northern slopes. Com- 
parisons in the growth of natural forests 
on northern and southern slopes bear out 
the same idea. Western slopes give 
prighter colors of fruit than eastern ones, 
but they get the hottest rays of the sun, 
and trees on them are much more subject 
to sunscald. By care in cultivation and 
pruning many of the drawbacks due to 
slope can be overcome, but in any case 
the sloping lands are to be preferred to 
level ones for commercial orcharding. 
The steepness of the slope on which 
it is practicable to plant orchards will de- 
pend on circumstances. One often finds 
apple trees in mountain regions that are 
producing large quantities of beautiful 
fruit in places that to a plainsman would 
scarcely seem to be accessible with a fly- 
ing machine. There is little doubt about 
the trees doing well on very steep and 
even rocky locations, but it is often next 
to impossible to harvest the fruit there 
economically. Mountain coves, even when 
high up in the mountain sides, offer the 
best possibilities for apple growing be- 
cause they have natural irrigation and 
excellent drainage, and their soils are 
usually rich from the washing of the 
enclosing slopes. Often, while steep, high 
ridges may be entirely unsuited for apple 
trees, the coves which they contain may 
be almost ideal for the same crop. Na- 
ture never intended the greater part of 
mountain lands should bear anything but 
forest. Man in mountain regions too often 
invades nature’s realm, and thus we see 
washed and gullied fields on which culti- 
vation is impracticable. Orchards can 
profitably go higher up the slope than any 
other agricultural crop, but our better 
judgment should not allow them to tres- 
pass on Nature’s domain. 
W. N. Hurt, 
Raleigh, N. C. 
Market Conditions 
Another all-essential element in locat- 
ing a commercial orchard is to select a 
region where there will be ready trans- 
105 
portation facilities. Many sections of Idaho 
grow excellent apples, but in some of 
these there have been no transportation 
accommodations developed to handle com- 
mercial quantities of this fruit. Undoubt- 
edly it would be unwise to locate large 
orchards in such sections. Locate the 
markets and the ways of reaching them 
first and then the question of the proper 
location for the orchard can be rationally 
considered. 
In connection with the selection of a 
section where market communication is 
guaranteed, advantage should be taken of 
locating where there are two or more 
ways by which the fruit may be taken to 
market. Hither two different lines of rail- 
roads or a railroad and water-way are 
decidedly advantageous. These competing 
lines tend to reduce the freight rates 
much below that usually maintained 
when one public carrier has complete 
monopoly on the entire shipping facilities. 
The finished product of an Idaho apple 
orchard will not endure rough handling if 
it is to be highly remunerative, hence it 
is desirable that an orchard should not 
be in a locality where long rough hauls 
by wagons are necessary to reach the ship- 
ping points. Moreover, transportation by 
horses is exceedingly expensive even if 
the roads are not rough and should be 
minimized as much as possible. * * * 
J. R. SHINN, 
Moscow, Idaho. 
For a commercial orchard it is impor- 
tant to be near a market if a home mar- 
ket is to be supplied, or near a good trans- 
portation line if a distant market is to 
be supplied. It is not essential to be 
near a market, for many of the large 
apple orchards are hundreds of miles from 
the market they supply. It is important, 
however, to be near a good road and near 
a railroad, for hauling over a bad road 
bruises the fruit and thus injures its 
appearance and keeping qualities. Cost 
of hauling is considerable if the shipping 
point is many miles from the orchard. 
For a home orchard we select a location 
near the home because convenience is one 
of the many points to be considered. 
H. C. THOMPSON, 
Agricultural College, Miss. 
