because it requires abundant nutriment, and in the absence of water this cannot be obtained. Neither does this fruit flourish in a soil which contains water in excess. The favorite earth of the apple is one which is deep, loamy, and calcareous. In those regions where the substratum is limestone, we expect and find the most beautiful fruits of this species. Marly earths are therefore adapted to it, because they contain carbonate of lime. Loamy clays are also often well adapted to the apple. A table is suffixed containing, as far as possible, the soils best suited to the leading varieties of this fruit. We do not assert that a certain variety will not grow upon those soils which are here left blank, but that they generally succeed better upon those indicated.

The Apricot. This truly delicious fruit is of foreign origin, and the great difficulty in its cultivation in the northern part of the United States is the prevention of injury during the winter. When it finds no such difficulty, deep limestone soils are those in which it delights. But at the north such land would induce too free and late a growth, which would result in the death of the tree. Therefore a gravelly or sandy soil must be selected, which shall in a measure stunt it, and produce a dwarfish habit. Then the growth will be short, and will ripen, although the fruit will not be so fair as in regions where it is not injured by the winter.

The Berberry. This flourishes on almost any soil, from loamy sands to stiff clays, but its most natural condition is in a rich, peaty, limey earth.

The Cherry. The observations already made with regard to the apricot apply equally well to this fruit ; but the morello varieties require clay soils.

The Currant. A peaty or clayey soil is that

CURRANT, FIG, GOOSEBERRY.

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which is best adapted to the growth of this berry. On dry sands the foliage of the old varieties drops off, and the fruit becomes shrivelled before it is ripe. Where it is grown on such lands, la Versaillaise, la Fertile d'Angers, and la Hative de Bertin are much superior, as they very persistently retain their foliage, and the fruit is therefore of greater size and duration.

The Fig, in those regions where it is hardy, flourishes upon a loamy lime, or clay soil; but in northern latitudes, if planted upon such lands, its succulent shoots are killed during the winter. In the latter they should be grown upon loamy sands, which will check their free growth, and induce hardness and ripeness of wood.

The Gooseberry requires a rich loamy clay for its perfect development. This applies only to such varieties as are free from mildew; others are not worth cultivation.

The Grape. Mr. R. Bucnanan, of Ohio, in his work entitled "Grape Culture," speaks thus: "The soil best suited for a vineyard is a dry, calcareous loam, with a porous subsoil, not retentive of moisture; if mixed with some gravel or small stones, so much the better. Some vignerons prefer a sandy soil with a gravelly substratum, as in this the

86

THE GRAPE.

grapes are less subject to rot; the juice, however, is not so rich, lacking saccharine matter, and in dry seasons the vines will suffer from the drought, shedding their leaves prematurely, and preventing the grapes from ripening properly. On warm sandy soil, the fruit-buds, if swelled in the autumn, are sometimes killed by the frosts of a severe winter. Soils underlaid by a stiff wet clay are to be avoided, as also wet or spongy lands."

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Mr. John Williamson, whose wines have a high reputation, writes, in a letter to Mr. Buchanan : "I consider the proper selection of the soil almost everything in the successful cultivation of the grape for making wine. I have visited nearly all the vineyards near Cincinnati, and feel confident that many of them must eventually fail from a want of selecting at first the right kind of soil; and yet, in my opinion, there is plenty of suitable land in almost any neighborhood. Some have planted on that of a grayish, gravelly surface, with a heavy blue clay subsoil, impervious alike to water and the roots of the vine, further than it is loosened by the spade or the plough in trenching. Such, if it does produce a growth of wood, causes the grape to rot.

"Another soil unsuited to the grape is that with a surface of rich mould, underlaid with a stratum of fine, bright yellow sand, clammy and adhesive. This is well calculated to deceive; but it has no strength below the mould, and the vines invariably

Such lands

The soil on

become weak, and of small growth. may be improved by lime and ashes. which I rely, and, from the experience of seven or eight years, place the greatest confidence in, is of a grayish black, breaking up into square lumps in cultivation, deep, and running into a reddish yellow subsoil, friable like the surface in working, and generally resting on limestone rock. On such soils, with proper cultivation, I have never known the vine to fail."

Mr. N. Longworth, in a communication to the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, says: "In my vineyards, at Tusculum, the rot has prevailed, and this season two-thirds of the crop was lost. The subsoil was a stiff clay, and to this fact I chiefly attribute it. Among my vines near the foot of the hill, where the ground was more porous, there was less rot, and at the bottom, or near it, where the rain immediately sank deep into the earth, there was no

rot.

And this I have found to be the case also at other vineyards. Where the subsoil was a compact clay, it prevailed; where it was mixed with sand or gravel, or where it was porous, there was no rot."

The Peach and Nectarine delight in a deep loamy sand, but will succeed in almost any light soil. In the north, the soil should not be so generous as to induce too free a growth.