FRUIT REPORTS. 
229 
consist of proper cultivation, pruning and the control of insect and fungous 
foes. 
While the fruit industry of Vermont, taken as a whole, does not show any 
marked increase in late years, we find that there are agencies at work that 
are raising the standard of horticultural knowledge. Therefore, from the 
standpoint of one who has studied the situation carefully there seems to be 
good reasons for hopefulness for the future. 
D. C. HICKS, Chairman. 
T. L. KINNEY. 
D. B. SriERS. 
A. A. HALLADAY. 
L. M. MACOMBER. 
DR. T. H. HOSKINS. 
Fruit Committee. 
VIRGINIA. 
BY PROF. W. B. ALWOOD, BLACKSBURG, CHAIRMAN. 
1. The extensive coast plain and the region lying above it, known as Mid- 
dle Virginia, make together fully one-lialf of the State and are not well 
adapted to the cultivation of apples other than summer' and fall varieties. 
Winter apples in this section will seldom keep longer than through Decem- 
ber and are not desirable as export fruit. This section of the State is, how- 
ever, well adapted to the cultivation of bush fruits and strawberries, and also 
produces good grapes. The stone fruits generally thrive well in this section. 
Lying to the west of the section mentioned above we have the Piedmont 
section which merges into the Blue Ridge Mountains and is characterized 
by an elevation of five hundred to two thousand feet above sea level. This 
section is marked by strong red clay soils shading off into chocolate and 
dark loam soils up the mountain hollows. Also there are outcrops of light 
gray gravelly soils. These latter are very poor but the other soils mentioned 
are rich naturally and produce excellent fruit. The red lands are well 
adapted to the standard apples such as Winesap, York Imperial and others. 
The loamy soils up the mountain hollow's produce our finest Pippins, which 
are the best export apples grown in America. 
West of the Blue Ridge Mountains we have the great Valley and Appa- 
lachia, a region of the State having an elevation of from one thousand to 
forty-five hundred feet. It is chiefly a heavy limestone soil broken here 
and there with shale and sandstone formations, and produces all the standard 
fruits in great excellence. 
Peaches, pears, plums and all the small fruits thrive well throughout all this 
upper section of the State. However, in exposed situations, peaches and 
plums suffer from late spring frosts. 
2. Winter fruits can be grown well in this State at an elevation of five 
hundred feet but below this do not do well. There is such a great variety 
of soils that a special treatment of this subject would be necessary for clear 
understanding. Good orchard land can be purchased in a wild state at from 
one to ten dollars per acre. Howmver, there are instances where people ask 
fabulous prices for specially good pippin land. Orchard land in bearing, 
with trees well grown and healthy, is. worth from five hundred to one thou- 
sand dollars per acre. 
