questions that for our own state demands more than the usual amount of attention. In the fruit regions of the northeastern United States this problem is reduced to a question quite different from that encountered here. All the northern and eastern states are covered with a soil that is the result of glacial action, with a drift soil in the valleys. This drift is largely composed of organic matter, and is rich and retentive. In our own state we have no soil that is the result of glacial action. Our uplands are entirely clothed with sedentary soil of a clayey or gravelly nature, depending upon the nature of the rock strata from which it has been derived. The lowlands and river valleys, while containing a transported soil, present a very different character from similar formations in the glacial region. Our bottom lands are sandy, porous, quick but not retentive soils. For orchards situated in this sandy region quite a different course must be pursued from that practiced in like plantations upon the elevated sections. It is also probable that decided differences will be noted in the varieties adapted to these different soil formations. At this time the problem of orchard nourishment can only be hinted at; it will, however, form one of the subjects for future study, and will receive careful attention from this department. In fact, tree nourishment and tree spraying are the two questions of importance in the apple growing portions of this state. THE ORCHARDS OF NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA. Perhaps no state in the union possesses a greater acreage of apple trees within the limit of so small a region as does West Virginia. This industry has spread within the last thirty-five years over several thousand acres of that portion of Hancock county bordering the Ohio River. Beginning across the river from Wellsville, Ohio, the orchards extend in an almost unbroken belt for upwards of six miles along the river slope, and back to the table lands, a distance of from one to two miles. Within this area of twelve square miles there are probably not far from 2,500 acres of young or bearing apple trees. Such an industry has not been the growth of a day, but has slowly evolved, and to-day requires the entire attention of those most largely engaged in the business. Other farm operations are of secondary consideration, and are engaged in merely for the purpose of reducing the cost of maintaining the necessary labor and power for the farm, for even in an intensive industry like that here carried on, garden products in quantity and feed for teams can be more cheaply produced upon the farm than it can be purchased from hucksters or gardeners. The apple industry, however, is the all absorbing industry. Throughout the year apples are the source of the main portion of the work of this region. During the winter sorting and grading the fruit, together with tree pruning in the early spring months, require the employment of a large force of skilled labor. One advantage of these intensive forms of agricul ture lies in the continuous employment of labor. This is of advantage to the laborer as well as the employer. Skill in pruning, picking and assorting fruit is a experience and practice, the same as skill in any other profession. A man who has become proficient in these several lines of work, and who is acquainted with the methods of the grower, as well as the location and peculiarities of the several orchard blocks, is obviously of much greater value to his employer than any man who has yet to learn any or all of them. The trained man or the skilled man is cheaper for the farmer, the same as the skilled mechanic is for the manufacturer. True it is that proprietors have not given this question as much attention as it justly deserves, but the tendency is now in the right direction. a matter of The Soil. The soil of the apple region of Hancock county is for the most part of two sorts-a gravelly clay loam on the hillsides, and a sandy loam on the river bottoms. In the outset nearly all the orchards were planted upon the hillsides or uplands, but at present the industry holds the highest rank in importance, and trees are no longer set on the waste ground, but upon the best soil the farm affords. It is something of a question, in my mind, whether or not the plantations on this sandy soil are likely to maintain their producing powers to the extent that those on the higher grounds have. If no drawback |