California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



181 



Siatllcultttt*c* 



HOW TO PLANT AN OECHARD. 



The Best Varieties of Fruits for a 

 Family Orchard. 



Also Some Hints iis to the Care and 

 Culture of Orchards, etc, 



GOOD FRUITS A BLESSING. 



W NOTHEE, season, promising to bo 

 al favorable for orchard planting and 

 the growth of transplanted trees, 

 is upon us, encouraging every per- 

 Coj" son who has a place to plant trees 

 to cultivate an orchard. To advise per- 

 sons who have not already all the or- 

 chard that they need, to plant trees, 

 seems, in this age of intelligence, as su- 

 perfluous. Still we know that not every 

 one has realized the enjoyment that it 

 gives, or is aware of the importance of a 

 home orchard, and the value of a supply 

 of fruits for family use. A few years 

 back, and orchards were the exception; 

 few persons appeciated the value of 

 fruits for food. As the world progresses 

 few are now to be found who would be 

 wholly without it. No class of food has 

 a greater dietic value than good fruits. 

 Persons who, with other sorts of food in 

 abundance, habitually eat largely of 

 fruits, are seldom or never sick. There 

 is no better regulator of stomach and 

 bowels. Fruit of some kind should al- 

 ways be put upon the table, and in such 

 quantity as to satisfy the appetites of 

 every person. It is as nutritious, and 

 should be as jilenty and as cheap as any 

 other food. Once habituated to it, and 

 partaking of it regularly, no pills or 

 other physic will ever be necessary. No 

 indigestible pickles will be wanted, no 

 unnatural craving for vinegar will tor- 

 ment the stomach. This we can say 

 from our own experience, and that of 

 our family. Deprive us of our regular 

 fruit at the table, and we should soon 

 get sick and need physic. With it di- 

 gestion need never be disan-anged. The 

 best authorities teem with evidences of 

 the value of fruit as human food. Of 

 course we are in favor of orchards and 

 fruits for every family and advise their 

 culture. 



OUE ANNUAL ADVICE. 



Again we venture to give the best ob- 

 tainable advice from practical orchardists 

 as to the best varieties of fruit trees to 

 plant for a home orchard, and for profit. 



We find it necessary to repeat the most 

 important parts of previous articles; in 

 fact, we simply revise our former ones, 

 making such corrections, additions and 

 alterations as the experience of our best 

 orchardists have developed. There may 

 be some good varieties of fruit that we 

 have not included in our list, but cer- 

 tainly we aim to give none but what are 

 first-rate and well adaj)ted to the condi- 

 tions of soil and the peculiar climate of 

 California. We do not give selections 

 from guess work, nor in the interest of 

 any party, but have taken the most care- 

 ful pains to be as correct and reliable as 

 possible for the general good of our 

 readers. 



THE FAMILY OKCHAKD. 



For a family orchard, more varieties 

 than for a market orchard should be se- 

 lected. A succession of ripening should 

 be chosen, from early to late. A few 

 early varieties are enough, as what are 

 not at once consumed ^^-ill decay. More 

 trees of late sorts should be chosen, for 

 the keeping qualities of late ripening 

 fruits will extend the time for consump- 

 tion. The best fruits for canning are 

 neither the very earliest nor the latest 



varieties; and as putting up fruits her- 

 metically has come to be an important 

 consideration, in addition to drying 

 fruits, more trees of a medium ripening 

 kind are required for a complete family 

 orchard than formerly. 



FKUITS ADAPTED TO LOCALITIES. 



For a market orchard but few varieties 

 are profitable to cultivate, and they 

 should be grown with a view of com- 

 manding the highest prices; eouse(iueut- 

 ly they should be only of the hand- 

 somest sorts, and such as will ripen or 

 be ready lor market at the season when 

 there is the best demand for them. The 

 locality and efiect of climatic conditions 

 must be considered in the matter of se- 

 lecting fruits for market, and also for a 

 homo orchard. For instance, at II.iITi's- 

 ville, Sacramento, and other heated 

 portions of our great valleys, as also 

 in the lower foot-hills of the Sier- 

 ras, the very earliest apples, pears, apri- 

 cots, peaches, cherries and grapes, will 

 bring the best prices in San Francisco, 

 because in these localities growers can 

 produce fruits several weeks ahead of 

 many other portions of the State. At 

 San .lose, and within the influence of 

 the sea climate, such apples as the Alex- 

 ander, Maiden's Blush, etc. — Fall ap- 

 ples — are as profitable as any that can bo 

 grown. We can get them into market 

 after the run of early apples is over and 

 before the Oregon Winter apples flood 

 the market. Winter ajiples are also 

 profitable to cultivate in San Jose, and 

 in all cool portions of the State, and 

 particularly along the coast, and also 

 high up in the mountain regions. In 

 Nevada they can grow very excellent 

 winter apples. But owing to the near- 

 ness to the sea and the cool climate, San 

 Jose is six weeks behind Marysville in 

 ripening early apples. While the early 

 ajjples that grow at Marysville are very 

 fine, the Fall and Winter fruits grown 

 there are comparatively inferior. At San 

 Jose superior apples can be produced of 

 any variety. Near the bay, currants, 

 gooseberries, strawberries, etc., of supe- 

 rior quality are produced. These fruits 

 need a moist, cool atmosphere to grow 

 the finest. They will also do fairly in 

 cool mountain regions, while in the hot- 

 ter interior valleys few or none are 

 grown, as they will not do so well. So 

 great is the influence of climate on fruits 

 that it is a matter of much importance, 

 in connection with the demands and sup- 

 ply of markets, for orchardists to fully 

 understand the nature of plants and ef- 

 fect of climatic conditions on fruit, 

 gi'owth and production. 



There are special varieties best suited 

 to dry localities. For instance where 

 the Rambo and Wine Sap yarieties of 

 apples will dry up so as to bo worthless, 

 the Skinner's Seedling and Gravestein 

 will do very well. The Newton Pippin 

 will make a better apple on dry soils 

 than the White Winter Pearmain, but 

 the former falls oft' badly, while the lat- 

 ter hangs on in such localities. 



BEST PLACE FOK AN OKCHARD. 



The home orchard should be laid out 

 with an eye to beautifying the place as 

 well as furnishing fruit for the family. 

 Let the orchard be a background to the 

 residence, so as to give the home a look of 

 completeness. It should not block a 

 fine desirable view from the house, nor 

 be set where it will hide the house from 

 the best view of the highway. Let it 

 be laid out in conformity to some ma- 

 tured plan and to the surroundings to 

 the best advantage, and where it will be 

 handy to the house. 



SHELTERING THE ORCHARD. 



Where there is not a natural shelter 

 for an orchai'd one should be provided 



by planting trees — evergreens are best — 

 on the two sides from whence blow pre- 

 vailing winds. Acacia, pepper trees, and 

 Monterey cypress are perhaps the best 

 to plant in hedge form for shelter. It 

 will certainly pay to provide some break- 

 wind, and even willows are better than 

 nothing. This matter of providing a 

 shelter is of much importxince in many 

 sections of the country, and our readers 

 cannot be too strongly impressed with 

 the idea. If an orchard is laid out so as 

 to cover more ground than the fruit trees 

 will occupy, clumps of evergreens can be 

 set out at intervals through as well as 

 around it, and will more perfectly shelter 

 the orchard, and make it like a laid out 

 park, ornamental as well as useful. This 

 idea might be carried out on most farms 

 with miich advantage. 



PhEPARINO THE SOIL. 



In preparing the soil for an orchard 

 we believe it best to plow deep, narrow 

 furrows, and cross-plow. The reason 

 for cross-plowing is this: After first deep 

 plowing the surface soil is underneath. 

 It should be left where it belongs, on 

 top. The cross-plowing brings up the 

 most of it, and iralverizes the whole to- 

 gether. Harrow with long teeth weight- 

 ed harrows, so as to thoroughly pulver- 

 ize the soil. At any rate, let the pulver- 

 ization of the soil be perfect, whether 

 you plow deeji or shallow. 



AFTER CARE OF THE SOIL. 



As to the after care and treatment, 

 keep the surface of the soil throughont 

 the orchard loose and light, and free 

 from weeds, all through the season, and 

 especially during Spring and Summer. 

 Never sow grain or grass in the orchard, 

 no matter who advises it. If the land 

 is naturally moist, or can be irrigated, 

 vegetables may be planted and kept cul- 

 tivated between the rows; but on dry 

 soil, let the trees have all the advantage 

 of clean, well pulverized soil, so that 

 they can resist the drouth of Summer 

 and gi'ow rapidly. An orchard stunted 

 while young can never fully recover. A 

 bearing orchard should be liberally ma- 

 nured, always upon the surface. No 

 matter how coarse the manure — it will 

 answer as a mulching until it decays. 

 Never plow a bearing orchard deeply. A 

 shallow plowing may do to turn under a 

 growth of weeds, but it is better to not 

 allow the weeds to grow. Cultivate it 

 thoroughly and work the surface often 

 enough to destroy all weeds. 



LAYING OUT FOR AN ORCHARD. 



Lay out your grounds so as to set all 

 trees (if for a family orchard) at uniform 

 distances, to facilitate cultivation. Some 

 trees will bear to be closer than others, 

 but for a homo orchard calculate to have 

 all trees between 15 and 20 feet apart. 

 On rich, moist soil, and in a sheltered 

 place, the trees should be set further 

 than on poorer soil in an exposed situa- 

 tion. The experience of our orchardists 

 causes them to generally agree in the 

 practice of closer planting than is 

 advised by eastern fruit-growers. We 

 think 16 feet far enough for any fruit 

 trees. The training shoiild accommodate 

 them to that space, and the fruit will be 

 all the better for it. 



To make true lines and set trees in 

 perfect line, is much neater than careless 

 planting. As an aid to this, a long wire 

 with marks m.ide by twisting on sticks se- 

 curely at regular distances we have found 

 to be an excellent line for staking off an 

 orchard — a twine will stretch too much. 

 Find a base-line for one side of the or- 

 chard, then get a true right angle tit one 

 end, cornering on the first line. Stake off 

 these lines at the right distance for the 

 trees; then, by setting the wire by the 

 stakes of either side and ran ing paral- 



lel lines, sticking the stakes at each mark 

 on the wire, the rows will come perfectly 

 in line without any squinting or labori- 

 ous sighting with the eyes. 



Usually there is not care enough taken 

 in lajing off the ground and staking. 

 It is looked upon as lost time. This is 

 a mistake. A day or two spent in stak- 

 ing oft" is well-spent time. You will find 

 it out to your sorrow if you do not work 

 deliberately at this part of your job. 

 Stakes should be two or three feet long, 

 and need not be more than one-half inch 

 square. Stick one where each tree is to 

 be set, — lay out the whole before setting 

 a tree. 



THERE ARE TWO METHODS 

 Of laying out an orchard, one the square 

 and the other the quincunx. 



THE SQUARE 



is by drawing straight lines across each 

 other at equal distances, like a checker- 

 board, and planting the trees where tha 

 lines cross each other. 



THE QUINCUNX 



Is formed by planting one row on the 

 cross lines and the next between tbe 

 cross lines. But in order to get the 

 trees equidistant a little figuring must 

 be done. For instance, if you want your 

 trees just IG feet apart, lay off yonr rows 

 13 feet 10 and 6-15ths inches asunder, 

 and plant yonr first row of trees 16 feet 

 from each other. The first tree of your 

 second row plant 8 feet from your start- 

 ing line, and then go on 16 feet apart as 

 in the first row. Begin and plant your 

 third row as you did your first, and the 

 fourth as you did the second, and so on, 

 breaking joints, as it were, in each row. 

 This will give you a true quincunx, Ifl 

 feet apart in every direction. 



For trees 20 feet apart, lay off the rows 

 17 feet -t inches and plant the trees 20 

 feet apart in the rows as before ex- 

 plained. 



The quincunx makes a beautiful or- 

 chard and is a very good arrangement, 

 for it enables one to flU up his ground 

 neatly and profitably, and does away 

 with the necessity of his cultivating :i 

 single foot of unoccupied space. 



DIOOINO HOLES AND PLANTING TREES. 



Some object to the word hole as ap- 

 plied to tree planting, but we regard it 

 as a good word, although a badly dag 

 hole is an abomination. There seems 

 to be some difference of opinion among 

 good orchardists as to how trees should 

 be planted. All seem agreed that in 

 loose soil large holes are not needed. 

 Make the holes oijy large and deep 

 enough to take the roots at the natural 

 depth without cramping. Let the hole 

 be a little the deepest at the edges and 

 highest in the centre, so that the roots 

 will incline a little down as the tree 

 rests upon the bottom, or bed. Dr. 

 Strentzcl, of Martinez, says that large 

 holes in heavy clay soil are indispens- 

 able. In this case make the bed under 

 the trees with surface soil well pulver- 

 ized. In all cases be sure that each root 

 IS laid in a natural position, and that 



