PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR THE COMMERCIAL ORCHARD. 1 33 



Mr. Elliot: If you have sandy land with an under drainage 

 of clay it is all right for plums. 



Mr. R. H. L. Jewett: I do not like some ideas to go out in this 

 paper on subsoiling without a little more reference made to some 

 points. I deem it very important that the society recommend the 

 location of orchards on elevated ground, the higher the better. 

 Ordinarily in this state our ground has clay subsoil and is not sub- 

 ject to that condition our friend has described. To conserve the 

 moisture we get on higher ground. I think it is important that the 

 ground should be pulverized as deep as possible. 



Mr. Elliot: We have all kinds and classes of soils in all man- 

 ner of conditions. Now, any one planting an orchard in order to be 

 successful with it must study the conditions of his soil. He has got 

 to study his soil before he does his planting if he expects to make 

 a success, and what will do for one Location will not do for another. 

 Every one that contemplates planting must work out this problem. 

 Mr. Hawkins is all right where he is located. It may not be all right 

 for Mr. Poore or for Mr. Richardson, but each of these gentlemen 

 will have to adapt himself to the soil he has to work with. 



Mr. Jno. Freeman: I was the reader but not the writer of that 

 paper, and personally I have had very little experience with sub- 

 soiling, but for your information I will say that when Mr. Hawkins 

 handed me this paper he mentioned this point as one of the strong 

 features of his paper. I do not know the nature of his land, but 

 he made a strong point of the necessity of subsoiling in his section 

 of the country. 



Mr. Higbie: I would like to ask one question. If taking pas- 

 ture land containing all blue grass and timothy sod, preparing it in 

 the fall and planting trees in the spring, would be an advisable 

 way of setting an orchard. Has any one ever experienced in that 

 way? 



Mr. Philips (Wis.): Yes, you can do it. 



Mr. Higbie: Would you advise plowing it in the fall and re- 

 plowing it in the spring, or can it be prepared to plant in the spring? 



Mr. Philips: If you commence the latter part of June you can 

 have it very nice for spring planting. 



Mr. O. W. Moore: In regard to this subsoiling question, I am 

 not very familiar with it, and I do not say that it would be the 

 proper thing to do for every locality, but I think we have one guide 

 in southern Minnesota, take it in Houston and Fillmore counties, 

 where we have clay subsoil on our land and rock to within four to 

 twelve feet of the surface. There I think it is safe and essential that 

 the ground should be subsoiled before we plant trees. 



Mr. Yahnke: I thought I would not say anything on this sub- 

 ject, but I must chip in a little bit. I have had quite a little experi- 

 ence in subsoiling, but it will not do for every man to practice it 

 no more than bees will cure ague in every man, but go to work 

 and subsoil your land for trees in the fall wherever necessary, and 

 subsoiling is necessary everywhere where there is clay soil; and 

 where the ground has been plowed many years you will notice it 



