SOILS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 49 
though somewhat more extensively in the latter State. The percent- 
age of such hardpan areas is not great. It is probable that they may 
be remedied by dynamite used in sufficient quantities to break up 
the hardpan effectively, this to be followed and supplemented by 
the use of deep-rooted leguminous cover crops to keep the shattered 
hardpan friable, but until the price of naturally good orchard land 
in the East is much higher than now it is unquestionably better eco- 
nomics to select soils which do not need the dynamite treatment to 
render them fit for planting fruit trees. 
In a given block of orchard where a layer of hardpan is found at 
depths ranging from 15 to 30 inches, careful records for a number of 
years indicate that poor color with both Baldwin and Northern 
Spy is characteristic. In other cases, not alone in Connecticut, 
Yellow Bellflower is usually knotty when grown on hardpan soils. 
In several orchards with surface soil of Gloucester loam but un- 
derlain in places with hardpan at depths of 18 to 24 inches and com- 
bined with a somewhat retentive subsoil, it is found impossible to 
grow Baldwin with good color if the orchard is cultivated. The 
character of the deep-soil section is such that the soil would be 
classed as somewhat moist, better for grass than for corn or potatoes, 
and so less conducive to good color of Baldwin than a soil less moist 
and warmer. This the owner wisely recognizes and so keeps his 
orchard in sod and removes the hay — a method usually condemned 
and properly so — but in this case well adapted to the conditions, for 
by transpiration of moisture through the grass plants the excess of 
soil moisture is reduced, thus making the soil warmer, and while 
the fruit is dark and dull colored at harvest time it reaches a beau- 
tiful color in midwinter, the flavor is well developed, the texture 
fine, and the keeping qualities remarkably good. 
This case is mentioned in some detail because it illustrates so aptly 
the fact that cultural methods should always be flexible rather than 
absolute, and so fit the soil conditions of the individual orchard. 
If the soil is too retentive of moisture, evaporation should be hastened 
by noncultivation and also, if necessary, by transpiration through 
growing a crop. If the soil tends to dry out too quickly, cultivation 
should be frequent and a good supply of humus maintained to con- 
serve the moisture. While such manipulation of method to suit the 
circumstances in the individual orchards should constantly be made 
use of, it has its limitations and does not do away at all with the de- 
sirability of selecting the soils best adapted to the individual va- 
riety ; that is, those soils which will require a minimum of manipula- 
tion to effect the best soil environment. Such soil adaptation serves 
as a guidance, furthermore, to the moisture requirements of the 
55570°— Bull. 140—15 4 
