CHAPTER XI 



PLANTING THE TREES 



After the field has been graded, thoroughly tilled and carefully laid 

 off as has been described, the next step is digging the holes for the 

 trees. "How large shall the holes be?" He was a wise fruit grower 

 who, when asked this question, replied, "As large as the field." That 

 is to say, it is much better to work the whole ground over deeply than 

 to trust to deep holes and shallow working elsewhere. Where this 

 is done, the tree holes need only be large enough and deep enough to 

 receive the roots without folding them in or cramping them up. In a 

 loose, deep soil, however, one can dig extra deep and broad holes if he 

 desires, and will be repaid by extra growth of the tree ; but in a close, 

 tenacious soil a deep hole is not only undesirable, but often positively 

 a danger to the tree unless drainage of the holes is provided artificially. 

 Such holes hold water like a tub, and the loosening of the soil deeply 

 facilitates its gathering in the hole. Many have found their trees in 

 such places dwindling and- dying because their roots were soaking in 

 water. 



Planting on Some Shallow Soils. As a rule, trees should have 

 a deep soil, and for these deep, free loams, California is famous, but 

 there are situations where very satisfactory growth and production can 

 be had, even when the hardpan is near the surface and the soil would 

 be called shallow. In such places it is the character of the subsoil ~ 4 

 which warrants the tree and vine planter in making use of them. Some- 

 times the hardpan is so thin and near the surface that it can be broken 

 through with a pick in digging the tree hole. Otherwise boring is done. 

 It is about forty years since Mr. James Rutter, of Florin (on the "bed- 

 rock" lands near Sacramento), first noticed that there were vines here 

 and there which grew exceptionally well and bore large crops of fine 

 fruit. He found by investigation that under these vines there were 

 crevices in the bedrock, and from this he took the hint to bore through 

 this hardpan in the bottom of the hole where he placed the tree, and in 

 this way he gained access for the roots to the subsoil and egress for 

 the water through the permeable substratum. He bored a hole two 

 inches in diameter into or through the bedrock and rammed well into it 

 one and a half pounds of black blasting powder. After exploding this, 

 he sometimes bored a three-inch hole about four feet below the blast. In- 

 stead of blasting in the whole where the tree is to be planted, some bore 

 and blast in the hardpan midway between the rows, placing the holes 

 at "quincunx" with the trees. The shattering of the hardpan between 

 the trees is said to be practicable after the trees are growing, and may 

 in certain soils relieve trees which are suffering for lack of drainage. 

 A half-pound cartridge of dynamite has been successfully used for 

 subsoil blasting, and some have reported in favor of exploding a quarter- 

 pound cartridge quite near to a tree suffering from standing water, 

 putting in the charge during the dry season. 



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