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AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
THE FUTURE OF COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING IN THE SOUTH. 
BY PROF. F. S. EARLE, ALABAMA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, AUBURN, 
ALABAMA. 
The future of commercial orcharding in the South must depend on two- 
factors: the requirements of the markets, and the possibilities of produc- 
tion. Any one familiar with market conditions during the past twenty-five 
years will readily admit that consumption of fruits is likely to increase in the 
future as it has done constantly and rapidly in the past. Not only is popula- 
tion increasing at all the great market centers, but the consumption of fruit 
per capita is increasing also, and it is coming to be considered more and more 
as a daily necessity rather than as an occasional luxury. 
One of the factors that is causing this increased consumption is the im- 
provement in transportation facilities due to the use of refrigerator cars, by 
means of which it is possible to transport perishable fruits for long distances 
at reasonable rates, and to thus greatly lengthen the season during which an 
abundant supply can be maintained in any given market. A few fruits out 
of season always command a fancy price, but it is equally true that only a 
small quantity of any fruit can be sold at all, out of its usual season. Thus 
a few crates of choice tomatoes in January may bring a great price, while 
four or five car loads will break a market that could handle a hundred car 
loads daily in July. Twenty years ago the peach season in New York and 
other Eastern cities began in July with the first shipments from Delaware. 
Now the recognized peach season opens four to six weeks earlier with the 
shipments from South Georgia, and large quantities can be disposed of from 
June to October. The market is thus to a considerable extent in the hands of 
the growers, since a large supply of good fruit in attractive condition always 
greatly stimulates consumption. There are no problems of greater import- 
ance to the fruit grower than those connected with the proper distribution and 
marketing of his product; and in the future as in the past, the men who make 
most profit will be the ones who pay most careful attention to these questions. 
It is, however, the problems connected with growing, rather than with 
marketing Southern fruits, that it is proposed to consider in this paper; and 
more particularly the growing of fruits in the territory comprised by the 
Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. 
This area can be conveniently divided into three unequal regions differ- 
ing somewhat widely in physical character and consequently in horticultural 
possibilities. First we have the rather narrow belt of moist low lying lands 
along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This is the region of rice, sea-island cot- 
ton and sugar cane. It is also the truck growing region par excellence, and 
immense quantities of vegetables are grown at many different points for 
Northern shipment. In the matter of . fruit production this coast country is 
somewhat limited. The climate is too cold even on the Gulf, for oranges, 
and neither apples, peaches or plums can be planted with much assurance of 
success. Grapes grow and bear well, but the fruit ships badly, and the vines 
are often short lived. The Oriental pears thrive better than any other class 
of fruit trees, and but for the ever present scourge of blight, Kieffer and 
LeConte could be grown with every assurance of success. Figs and Scup- 
pernong grapes succeed admirably, but neither can be classed as market 
fruits. Pecans should not be omitted in considering the horticultural possi- 
