SCOPE OF PKESENT INQUIBY. 



13 



many varieties of the various kinds of fruits. Much of the effort, 

 however, which has been expended in this direction has been without 

 definite system or plan, although in a comparatively few instances 

 careful and systematic effort has been put forth toward the solu- 

 tion of specific problems. The efforts of a relatively small number 

 of specialists have also been directed along certain well-defined 

 lines. There has been little attempt, however, to correlate cause 

 and effect, so that the practical application of the underlying prin- 

 ciples in the adaptability of varieties to their environment has not 

 been possible in any considerable degree in the selection of varieties 

 for the extension of the fruit-growing interests to new territory. 



The most comprehensive attempt to compile the available informa- 

 tion relative to the adaptability of the varieties of the different kinds 

 of fruits to the various sections of the country is the work that has 

 been done by the American Pomological Society during the last half 

 century through its committees appointed for the purpose. The 

 result of these efforts has been published in the catalogue of that 

 society from time to time and also in its most recent revision as Bulle- 

 tin No. 8, Division of Pomology, of this Department. In these publi- 

 cations the country is divided into nineteen districts, and the varieties 

 of the more common kinds of fruit which are considered best adapted 

 to the different districts are recommended for planting. For obvious 

 reasons these recommendations are general and do not take into 

 account the local conditions which may exist in the districts. 



The efforts of the Bureau of Plant Industry in its fruit district 

 investigations are similar in many respects to the work done by the 

 American Pomological Society in this direction, but the scope of the 

 research carries the inquiry farther and considers in the minutest 

 detail practicable the peculiarities and the requirements of varieties, 

 and attempts, as far as possible, to correlate cause and effect. It thus 

 becomes possible, within the limits of the information at hand, to 

 select varieties with a view to their value in very restricted sections 

 having local peculiarities as well as for the larger and more or less 

 general districts now recognized. 



SCOPE OF THE PRESENT INQUIRY. 



This paper is a preliminary consideration of the territory under dis- 

 cussion. The conditions and their influence upon the varieties of the 

 different kinds of fruit grown therein have not been studied in suffi- 

 cient detail or for a sufficiently long period of time to warrant the mak- 

 ing of many deductions which are not subject to revision as conditions 

 become knowm more intimately and the varieties are studied under a 

 wider range of climatic influences. It seems advisable, however, to 

 issue a summary of the observations which have thus far been made. 



135 



