SETTING OUT AN ORCHARD. 2C5 



PREPARING THE SOIL. 



The land being secured, or if the prospective fruit raiser is already a 

 land owner, the next step will be putting it in shape for the trees. The 

 amount of labor and money that will have to go into this phase of the 

 work will depend on whether or not you have purchased improved land. 

 As an example, let us take some of our northwestern soil, covered with 

 fir or pine. I have seen some of this burned over land that could be put 

 in shape for the trees for about $25 per acre. However, this is not the 

 rule. The usual cost will be nearer $100 per acre, and much runs up to 

 $250 to $300 per acre. Improved land at $100 to $250 per acre is always 

 cheaper ^than $50 land in the rough. Sometimes the heavy timber is 

 chopped off and sold, the smaller growth slashed and burned, then a bunch 

 of goats turned loose on what is left for four or five years. By this time 

 the small stuff will have decayed. The big stumps are either split with 

 powder, then pulled out, or burned out by piling wood around them, cover- 

 ing this over with bark, then dirt, and starting a fire in a vent left for thaf 

 purpose. This is known as charcoal pitting, and it takes something of an 

 expert at the job to be, as I say, a "roaring success." Sometimes the man 

 who is doing the work thinks it more economical to shoot the stump clear 

 out of the ground. This leaves quite a hole, and will cost about $5 for the 

 "prize" stumps. Of course if you are in a big hurry you can shoot the 

 green stump, then pull it out with a donkey engine. All grubs, stumps and 

 trash should be removed before planting. One thing we are very thank- 

 ful for is the fact that all the good fruit land is not confined to the fir 

 and pine districts. 



After the ground is cleared of all trash it must be given a good, deep 

 plowing. Our land here is free from timber, so w^e can go ahead with the 

 plow. We used two big gas engines, each pulling eight plows and a drag 

 harrow. These plows were put down twelve inches deep, thus producing 

 an ideal bed for setting trees. This deep plowing is very necessary, as it 

 is the last time the soil can be stirred deeply in the spot the tree will 

 occupy, that is by plowing. I know some orchards that experts thought 

 advisable to have the soil loosened deeply just where the tree stood, so a 

 hole was bored down under the tree three or four feet in depth and one- 

 half stick of giant powder dropped in and fired. Excellent results were re- 

 ported. However, we must not neglect the first plowing, even if we can 

 resort to such drastic treatment. 



SYSTEM FOR LAYING OUT THE ORCHARD. 



Of course you have been figuring on just what system you are going 

 to use in laying out your orchard. There are four that are most generally 

 used. They are the square, quincunx, hexagonal and contour. The first is 

 most generally used, as it gives more room for inter-cropping. The quin- 

 cunx system is simply the square system with a tree set in the center of 

 the square. The hexagonal is set on an equilateral triangle which, when 

 all of the trees are in, gives an appearance of one tree surrounded with six, 

 or a hexagon. The contour is used on hill sides, and especially where irri- 



