MANURE IN TREE PLANTING 103 



insure growth of the tree when otherwise it might be seriously injured 

 by drouth. With puddled roots especial care should also be taken to 

 leave the surface loose to prevent evaporation. In making puddle, 

 use loamy soil and never adobe, for in dry time the latter will bake 

 around the roots and may kill the tree. 



The Use of Manure. Never put manure in the hole with the 

 tree. Sometimes the injunction is, Never put anything but well rotted 

 manure in the hole. It is better to put in none of any kind. Manure 

 should be spread upon the ground after planting. The rains then leach 

 it out and it may be turned under in the spring plowing. There are, 

 however, light soils in the drier parts of the State where turning under 

 manure in the spring is a disadvantage, as it makes the soil too porous 

 and facilitates evaporation. On such soils, extra care should be taken 

 to have the manure thoroughly decomposed by composting, as will 

 be described in the chapter on fertilizers, and all applications should be 

 made either late in the spring to act as a mulch in the summer, or if a 

 mulch is not thought desirable, apply the manure in the fall before the 

 first rains, so that it may be turned under at the first plowing and have 

 the whole winter for disintegration. In this dry climate there is often 

 misapprehension, especially among newcomers, as to what is well- 

 rotted manure. They take the scrapings of the corral, which have been 

 trampled and pulverized, but which, having been kept dry, have never 

 rotted. When this is put in the holes with the tree and then moistened 

 by rainfall or irrigation, it will burn the tree, the first sign of injury 

 being the drying up of the leaves. It is, on the whole, safest and best 

 to put nothing but well-pulverized surface soil around the roots of the 

 young tree. 



Depth of Planting. The depth to which trees should be set has 

 always been a matter of discord among the planters. The safest rule 

 under ordinary circumstances is to get the tree as nearly as possible 

 the same depth it stood in the nursery row ; that is, so as to have it 

 stand that way when the ground has settled, or the surface returned by 

 cultivation to its normal level. In planting in loose soil in the drier 

 parts of the State, it is often desirable to plant rather low, because 

 several inches depth of the surface soil become dry, and the roots should 

 be well in the moist layer. But if irrigation is to be practised, it must 

 be remembered that the water level will rise when the soil is saturated 

 and deep-planted trees are apt to suffer. The experience of recent 

 years is decidedly against deep planting, which used to be advised 

 because of our dry climate. Thousands of trees have been ruined by 

 planting too deep except in light sandy soil. 



Speed in Plalnting. On good soil, well prepared, trees can be 

 put in rapidly and the job still be well done. It is reported that on one 

 occasion, in planting almonds, twenty men finished sixty-four acres 

 from Friday noon to Wednesday night, placing the stakes, digging the 

 holes, and planting the trees. This would be almost three-quarters of 

 an acre per day per man. In planting peaches and apricots an average 

 of one hundred trees per day to the man has been attained. On the 

 mellow loam, in another case, the average was one hundred and twenty- 



