Location and Site of the Orchard 37 



broken topography of the individual sites is favorable to the 

 same end. In most of this region the land has been cleared 

 expressly for the planting of the orchards. Plate II shows a 

 region similar in much of its local topography to that in Plate 

 I. It is a foothill location in California. Though the topog- 

 raphy is much broken, the orchards are irrigated. 



These two illustrations are typical of the mountain peach 

 districts of the country which, because they possess in a high 

 degree the essential features of good locations, have proved 

 admirably suited to peach-growing. 



ORCH.^D SITES 



An orchard site is the very piece of land on which the 

 trees are planted. The site has to do chiefly with the soil, 

 topography, elevation (relative rather than actual, though 

 both may be important), and local climatic conditions. 

 Obviously, some of the "location factors" are also "site 

 factors." In the latter connection rather detailed considera- 

 tion is needful. 



Soil. 



It is current opinion that peaches should be planted on 

 sandy or some of the lighter types of soil. It is doubtless 

 true that such types largely prevail in some of the most 

 important and most successful peach regions, and that fruit 

 of remarkably high quality and color is commonly produced 

 on such types. It is likewise true that peach trees thrive 

 and produce good fruit on a rather wide range of soil types, 

 including some of the gravels, shales, loams, and even the 

 clays, if they are not so heavy and impervious as to be poorly 

 drained. However, soils that induce an extremely heavy 



