The Bulletin. 13 



ble to ever get them to make a satisfactory orchard. Land kept in 

 good tilth and used for cultivated crops can be expected to give 

 reasonably good results in starting and growing orchard trees. Lands 

 used for grain crops should be shunned for orchard work, as they are 

 almost certain to be of the driest and poorest character. Old pasture 

 lands are very poor for tree culture. They may be fairly rich from 

 the droppings of the stock, but the humus in them is ruined by tram- 

 pling and their mechanical texture is at its very worst. A good pre- 

 vious crop is a heavy growth of some kind of leguminous plant. This 

 crop should be plowed down to furnish humus for the trees. It is 

 more or less difficult and expensive to improve land after trees are 

 planted; so it is best to spare no pains on previous preparation. 

 Preparatory to setting the trees the soil should be deeply plowed. 

 Clean surface cultivation should be given to conserve moisture. A 

 liberal dressing of manure is always beneficial. The manure should 

 never be put in the holes in which the trees are planted, but it should 

 be incorporated in the soil by general cultivation. 



LAYING OUT A MOUNTAIN OECHAED. 



Laying off land for tree planting on a hilly or uneven surface is 

 much more difficult than on level ground. It takes a good eye and a 

 careful hand to lay out an orchard so that the trees will line up every 

 way. On level ground nothing less should be done, for crooked or 

 irregular rows of trees are not only an eyesore and a living monument 

 to the incompetency of the planter, but they are an endless vexation to 

 the one who has to cultivate them. On mountain land the slope 

 usually makes cultivation impracticable except parallel with the hill- 

 sides. This simplifies the problem itself, but one who has never tried 

 hillside planting will be surprised at how difficult it is to get anything 

 like a regular-looking orchard when the work is completed. If the 

 slope is fairly regular — that is, with no "draws" or "coves" — one can 

 measure up and down the hill and locate the ends of the rows on a 

 base line at each end of the piece. If the land is not very steep, one 

 can start at a bottom corner and measure up the hill, laying off the 

 rows according to the distance desired between the trees. If the trees 

 are to be 35 feet apart, which is the least distance standard trees 

 should be set, he will simply measure up the hill, using one of the end 

 boundaries as a base line and put in a stake at every 35 feet. Meas- 

 uring down the hill, he should check up his distances to see that each 

 was exact. Each stake so set would mark the end of a row. The 

 same measurements should be made up and down the hill on the other 

 border of the piece. Using these end stakes as fixed points, a row of 

 stakes could be sighted in between to make a straight line. The plow 

 could then be started and a perfectly straight furrow, practically par- 

 allel with the hillside, put in from this line of stakes. As the plow- 



