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 else- 

 where. 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 loose, deep soil, however, one can dig extra 

 dfeep 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 gather- 

 ing in the hole. Many have found their trees in such places dwind- 

 ling 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 which warrants the tree and vine planter in making use of 

 them. Sometimes 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 was about 1875 that Mr. James Rutter, 

 of Florin (on the "bedrock" 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 per- 

 meable 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. Instead of blast- 

 ing in the hole 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 ex- 



