THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



In diversified funning by irrigation lies the salvation of agriculture. 



Short, practical articles, notes of experience and observation, are invited from the readers of THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE who are interested in the promotion of the idea of the small diversified farm, providing to the 

 fullest economical extent all of the various articles of food, clothing, etc., required by the family. 



SETTING OUT FRUIT TREES FOR IRRIGA- 

 TION. 



BY F. C. BARKER OF NEW MEXICO. 



WRITERS upon the subject of the distances at 

 which fruit trees should be planted never 

 seem to take into consideration that it makes 

 a great deal of difference whether the trees are to be 

 irrigated or not. Take for instance the case of peach 

 trees, which it is usually recommended to plant at a 

 distance of twenty-one feet, or 100 trees to the acre. 

 Now I have no hesitation in saying, that to set out 

 peach trees on the square at twenty-one feet from 

 tree to tree will be found a most inconvenient method 

 where the trees are to be irrigated. The system may 

 do very well for an orchard not under irrigation, as it 

 gives an equal opportunity for cultivation both ways, 

 that is along the rows and crossways; but in the case 

 of irrigation a much greater space will be required 

 between the rows along which the irrigation takes 

 place. Not only is additional space required in which 

 to open the irrigating furrows, but also for the subse- 

 quent cultivation, and on land sufficiently strong to 

 make a six-year-old peach tree spread twenty-one 

 feet, or even eighteen feet, the alleys between the 

 rows will not be found sufficiently wide to permit the 

 various operations of irrigation and cultivation to be 

 carried on efficiently. Or on the other hand, if, on 

 account of the weaker growth of the trees, twenty- 

 one feet be found sufficient for the alleys along 

 which the irrigating furrows run, then the distance of 

 twenty-one feet is too wide the other way, and it 

 would have been more economical to have set the 

 trees out twenty-one feet by sixteen, or say 125 trees 

 to the acre. 



I do not propose to lay down a rule for the proper 

 distance at which fruit trees should be planted, as 

 this will depend entirely upon the size to which they 

 may be expected to grow under the varying circum- 

 stances of climate, soil, etc. I merely wish to point 

 out that in order to give space for irrigation and cul- 

 tivation, the distance between the rows along which 

 the water runs should be at least six feet wider than 

 the distances at which the trees are set in the rows. 

 As I have already remarked, twenty-one feet on the 

 square will not be sufficiently wide if the trees grow 

 to a distance of eighteen feet, but exactly the same 

 number of trees can be set out to the acre if the rows 

 are made twenty-four and a half feet wide and the 

 trees eighteen feet apart in the rows. 



The water should not be allowed to come up to the 

 trunks of the trees, and there will therefore be a strip 

 of land on each side of the rows varying from three to 

 six feet, according to the age of the trees, which will 

 never receive water. On this strip the want of water, 

 and, as the trees grow larger, the heavy shade will 

 prevent any rampant growth of weeds and it can 

 easily be kept clear by an occasional hand-hoeing, 



238 



while the wider alleys will give ample room for horse 

 cultivation. 



In the collection of the fruit these alleys will also 

 be found a great convenience. 



Moreover, a much larger number of trees may be 

 successfully grown upon the same space by planting 

 somewhat thickly in the rows, provided the rows are 

 Avide enough apart to allow sunlight and air on two 

 sides of the trees. For instance, trees at eighteen 

 feet apart each way may form a perfect thicket in a 

 few years and exclude the sunlight and air to such 

 an extent that they will all become weakened. The 

 same trees set in rows twenty-one and a half feet wide 

 and the trees fifteen feet apart in the rows will do 

 much better, although there will be exactly the same 

 number on the ground, but the wider rows will admit 

 a current of air and light, without which no tree will 

 thrive in any climate. 



There is yet another advantage in favor of the 

 alley system and it is this: Suppose you are setting 

 out some new variety and don't know exactly how 

 large it may ultimately grow. You are not sure it 

 will grow to more than fifteen feet in diameter, and 

 on the other hand it may grow to thirty feet. If you 

 were adopting the old square system you would prob- 

 ably venture to put them out at twenty feet, or 110 to 

 the acre. Should the trees be found to need only fif- 

 teen feet you are wasting the ground, while if they 

 ultimately need thirty feet, you can only meet the 

 emergency by cutting out every other row and every 

 other one in the rows left, which would reduce the 

 number per acre to only twenty-eight. But on the 

 alley system you would plant out your 110 trees per 

 acre twenty-five feet by fifteen, and if you found the 

 trees really grew to a diameter of thirty feet that is, a 

 spread of branches thirty feet in diameter you could 

 meet the difficulty by cutting out every other tree in 

 the rows and so have the orchard thirty feet by 

 twenty-five, or about fifty-five to the acre. 



In planting slow growing but long lived trees, this 

 alley system offers the advantage of gathering sev- 

 eral crops from a larger number of trees before they 

 need additional space. Pear trees will often bear 

 several crops before their branches extend over 

 twelve feet, and yet the tree may ultimately grow to 

 twenty-four feet in diameter of spread. To set out 

 the orchard in the first place at twenty-four feet en- 

 tails a great waste of land and labor for many years, 

 while to put them out at twelve feet will soon make 

 irrigation and cultivation extremely difficult, but if 

 you set out your trees twenty-four feet by twelve, you 

 can go on for many years before you need to cut out 

 every other tree in order to leave them twenty-four 

 feet apart. In the meantime you can grow corn or 

 vegetables in the wider alleys and economize space. 

 By the by, perhaps one of the greatest advantages of 

 the alley system is that it gives more space for grow- 

 ing crops between the rows of trees until the latter 

 come into bearing. 



