406 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



SUCCESS IN UNDERDRAINING ORCHARDS. 



It was the writer's privilege, a few moutlis ago, to inspect an apple 

 orchard belonging to Mr. Lee Goodwin, of Indiana, which had just come 

 to bearing age and presented an uncommonly fine appearance. The trees 

 were twelve years old and uniformly thrifty and symmetrical in form. 

 Upon inquiry we learned that the orchard was thoroughly tile drained. 

 Lines of four-inch tile were laid five feet deep midway between the rows 

 of trees. Mr, Goodwin remarked that he had lost but two trees since the 

 first setting of the orchard, and that the trees had flourished with no 

 backsets from drought or winter freezing. It is customary to select a 

 fine slope or knoll of pleasing contour, if such can be found on the farm, 

 and from such land choose a site upon which to plant the young orchard. 

 Natural drainage is commonly recognized as desirable, and even necessary, 

 if fruit trees are to be successfully grown to a bearing age. If the sur- 

 face is level and subsoil retentive, as is the case on Mr. Goodwin's farm, 

 as well as over much of the surrounding country, there is no alternative 

 but to use artificial methods of drainage. The disastrous effects of hard 

 winters, requiring the resetting of from 10 to 15 per cent, of the young 

 trees every year or two until the orchard is matured, have been avoided 

 by the drainage of the soil and the care which Mr. Goodwin has be- 

 stowed upon his little orchard. It may be here remarked that this portion 

 of the country was once regarded as too level for successful drainage. The 

 abundant gTowth of all kinds of farm and garden crops, together with the 

 success of the tile factory in the neighboring vicinity, have now thoroughly 

 dispelled such notions from the minds of present land owners in that vicin- 

 ity. The subject of orchard drainage has not been discussed so freely of 

 late years as formerly, for the reason that the necessity of drainage, either 

 natural or artificial, has been settled in the mind of the practical fruit- 

 gi'ower. It is, however, sometimes overlooked by those who plant but a 

 few trees, and by the small orchardist who has neglected to give attention 

 to all of the details involved in the successful growing of fruit. These de- 

 tails, by the way, are by no means trivial. No better time can be selected 

 for doing orchard drainage than during the fall and early winter months, 

 when the ground is not too wet and when labor can be more readily ob- 

 tained than in the spring months. The experience of orchardists teaches 

 that the drains should be four and one-half feet or five feet deep. When 

 so placed there will be little risk from stoppage by roots, and, besides this, 

 ample depth gives a more uniform condition of soil than more shallow 

 drainage affords. As early as 18G8 Spaulding & Co., of Springfield, 111., 

 began to tile drain their nursery and. orchard grounds. This was done 

 when little was thought of tile drainage throughout the entire country. 

 The results of this work, as noted by Mr. Spaulding fifteen years after- 

 ward form an interesting record from which we gather the following: 



Mr. Spaulding drained eighty acres for permanent orchard, laying the 



