35 



-which had been lying fallow on Mr. Stirk's farm, and it was in 

 ;a beautifully moist condition, and would have carried an orchard 

 most assuredly. 



Perhaps it would not be out of place to give our Eastern friends 

 some ideas of the difficulties to be encountered almost annually 

 on some lands of the celebrated St. Clara Valley, in California, 

 which \ve may here state last year shipped 29,000,000 Ibs. of fresh 

 fruit, 17,000,000 Ibs. canned fruit, and 42,000,000 Ibs. dried fruit. 



We speak with some little authority as an erstwhile contractor 

 for this class of work. Let us take one job out of several which 

 came under our own eyes during our last season ; a 5-acre block, 

 the contract price to dig the hole and plant the tree was 6d. per 

 tree ; long price you will say, but nevertheless money was lost on 

 the job. 



The soil, a rich, black, stiff, clayey loam, that is there called 

 " adobe," was so hard that we could not get into it even with 

 picks, so the only course open to us was to dig the holes G inches 

 deep, then fill them with water from a barrel, wait until the 

 water had sunk and softened a few more inches, and so on, ad 

 nauseam, until the required depth had been arrived at. The 

 trees were planted with a couple of buckets of water added, and 

 'they grew. One is altogether too much inclined to imagine that 

 fruit-growers in other countries, who have made a success of it, 

 have had no difficulties to encounter, but we think this will 

 generally be found to be not so. In fact, it is safe to say, that 

 the greater the difficulties to be surmounted, the greater the 

 success, as the initial energy displayed is only a foreshadowing 

 of what will be displayed in the future. 



THE GENERAL TREATMENT AT PLANTING AND 

 DURING FIRST SEASON'S GROWTH OF A YOUNG 

 ORCHARD. 



If possible, one should have had the land prepared the year 

 ^previously, and lying, in summer, fallow. This should be more 

 important in districts which get their rainfall during a period 

 when a deciduous tree is in an active state of growth. We will 

 presume the ground is in a thoroughly clean and well-pulverised 

 .state, or as nearly so as the frequent ploughing, cultivating, and 

 breaking of clods would allow. On arrival of the bales, or 

 boxes, as the case may be, they must be opened at once, even if 

 it were the morning, and one intended beginning planting the 

 same afternoon, one should have them all layed in by the roots, 

 in a trench, which should be dug on, or near the ground to be 

 planted ; if the soil were dry, this laying-in should bo done where 

 one is able to allow water to be turned into the trench. In doing 

 ihis work, take care that all the roots are well covered with the 



