48 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 



moderately elevated piece, where the soil was of 

 good natural fertility; not too abrupt, but suffi- 

 ciently rolling to insure good drainage. The 

 exposure might be in almost any direction, though 

 a sharp southern exposure is usually condemned. I 

 have, however, seen the Ben Davis in Madison 

 county, Neb., which is considered only hardy 

 enough for about thirty-eight to thirty-nine, at the 

 age of twenty-two years, sound and bearing enor- 

 mous crops, and on a steep south slope with a grove 

 of cottonwoods on the north and in close proximity 

 on the south. 



When we reflect that there are excellent orchards 

 of many acres, hundreds and over, in all parts of 

 the country, it is obvious that the different parts 

 must present almost every exposure or slope, hence 

 if we adopt any particular exposure as requisite to 

 success we should have our large orchards consider- 

 ably broken up in patches. 



It is easier to make an orchard in clayey loam 

 than in sand, still in several of the northwestern 

 states I have seen and made excellent orchards in 

 drifting sands. In these cases it is necessary to plant 

 deeply, 3 or 4 inches deeper than in clay. The 

 Russets and the Duchess, tlaas, and Iowa Blush, 

 generally succeed in these light soils, and the 

 cherries are especially at home in them. 



It is generally taught that the ground should be 

 plowed very deeply. My experience in making 

 orchards in the soils of western Iowa, northern 

 Nebraska and South Dakota, has taught me that 



