WINTER MEETING. 151 



In concludiug my remarks I will say, that whatever will pay at all 

 for doing in this world, will pay best for doing well. 



Mr. Tippin — In relation to the planting of the trees — as to the 

 depth to plant, I should like to hear from Mr. Hammon. It is a very 

 important point, and I simply ask the question for the benefit of those 

 who expect to plant. 



Mr. Hammon — In regard to the depth of planting, it has been my 

 plan to plant deep if necessary. The soil will settle an inch or more 

 than at planting. I loosen the ground for nearly two feet around, fill- 

 ing in with a subsoil after. Where there was a strata of hard soil 

 underneath the surface, I broke it up and left a chance for the roots 

 to go down. Then I opened a trench for the water to run off under- 

 neath, and formed a reservoir to store the water that collects in the 

 winter for use in the summer. The ground will settle a great deal and 

 one must judge for himself how deep a tree ought to be planted. It 

 will not do for a tree to be planted too deep. 



Mr. Tippin — A great many orchardists have made the mistake of 

 planting the trees so deep that they have become stagnated and the 

 roots have rotted, and then they lay the blame on the nurserymen or 

 wherever they obtained their trees. One of our largest planters made 

 a serious mistake in this line ; he left the planting, however, to his 

 superintendent, and he made the mistake. He planted the trees six 

 inches deeper than they stood in the nursery row. I think the best 

 rule is not to plant to exceed an inch and a half deeper than the trees 

 stood in the nursery row. That is my experience and observation. 



Mr. Evans — This question of the depth of planting trees is an im- 

 portant one, but there is another question of vastly more importance 

 that suggests itself in the paper. The most important point made in 

 the paper is the loosening of the ground to the depth that Mr. Hammon 

 speaks of, or, in other words, subsoiling. This question is one of the 

 most important in my mind in connection with the planting of trees, 

 and while we are agitating the question of irrigation all over the West- 

 ern country, we seem to have lost sight of the question of more im- 

 portance than irrigation — subsoiling. We can irrigate nearly every 

 acre of land, but if we only agitata the question of irrigation, then we 

 leave out of the question entirely that which would and could be made 

 to do more good. 



Mr. Murray — I do not wish to take up the time, but I agree with 

 all that has been said, I believe. Preparing the ground deeply, and the 

 same time depending somewhat on the kind of ground. It ought to 

 be done in the first place with an eye to drainage, as well as to sub- 

 soiling. If the land is prepared deeply under the trees in such a way 



