type are usually rich in both potash and lime, though variable in phosphoric acid. 

 For practically all fruits it is desirable to have a type of soil which carries a quantity 

 of plant-food in a reasonably available form. 



Whatever the soil, it should be reasonably deep. Sour cherries, and in some 

 cases strawberries and plums, may do well on soils which are rendered shallow by 

 the presence of hard-pan, impervious clay subsoil, or rock ; but on such soils apple- 

 orchards are likely to be short-lived, poor in results, and extremely liable to winter 

 injury. Shallow soils have not sufficient reservoir for moisture, nor have they any 

 reserve of plant-food, and they should be avoided for what are intended to be long- 

 lived orchards to a far greater extent than they have been in the past. 



The depth of soil is a subject which receives practically little or no considera- 

 tion from the intending planter, yet it is one on which the future of the orchard 

 very largely depends. 



The amount of decayed vegetable matter or humus in the soil varies greatly in 

 different districts. Humus is almost absent in Dry Belt soils, but what there is is 

 four times as rich in nitrogen as the average humus of the soils of humid regions. 

 Soils which have been newly cleared of coniferous timber are deficient in humus, 

 and what there is is undesirable, because of its acidity or rawness. Those soils 

 which have borne a natural growth of willow or alder have more humus, and conse- 

 quently more available nitrogen ; but, generally speaking, nearly all our soils lack in 

 this essential constituent, and it must be supplied at some time, either before the 

 orchard is planted or in its early years. If humus is lacking, the roots of fruit-tress, 

 which are very much more delicate and exacting in their requirements than the 

 roots of forest trees general opinion to the contrary make much less growth, and 

 the trees in consequence do not do so well. Practical experience proves that humus 

 should be supplied early in the life of the orchard, and, preferably, a crop of clover, 

 vetch, alfalfa, or peas should be ploughed down in the fall before the orchard is 

 planted. 



In most sections the presence of a supply of sub-irrigation moisture, or seepage, 

 will be of great benefit if it is not in too great quantity or too near the surface. 

 We find apple-orchards on the Coast doing best where there is such subsoil moisture 

 as will ensure a supply during the dry summer. Such seepage is also giving good 

 results in sections of the Interior, but where subsoil moisture is in apparent excess 

 for the average apple-tree, pears may be planted with satisfactory results. 



On soils which show alkali, or which will be subject to alkali, through seepage 

 or over-irrigation, the best varieties of pears should be planted rather than apples, 

 because the pears stand alkali much better. Where alkali is present in considerable 

 quantity, the grape, which is more resistant even than the pear, will still do well. 

 The peach is not at all resistant, and its planting on such soils should be avoided. 



The drainage of the orchard-site should be good. Where it is desirable to have 

 a home orchard on low soils which are unsuitable for commercial orchards, those 

 varieties of apples such as Golden Russet and Ben Davis, which are specially 

 resistant to soil-moisture, should be chosen. 



(7.) THE POLLINATION PROBLEM. 



It has been learned within comparatively recent years that the pollen of one 

 variety of apple may not be potent on the blossoms of the same kind, though quite 

 efficient on another variety. There have been found but a few varieties of apples 

 and of pears which are self-fertile, and occasionally instances have been found where 

 the pollen of certain varieties will not fertilize any other variety on which it has 

 been artificially tried. The study of pollination has solved many problems as to the 

 failure of orchards, especially those of a single variety, to bear normal crops of fruit. 

 Such studies also indicate the best varieties for planting together to secure best 

 results, but only in the district in which the experiments are conducted, as is shown 

 by the widely different conclusions of experimenters. The results of investigators 

 in other Provinces and States are therefore not presented here. 



No pollination studies have been conducted in British Columbia, this being a 

 subject of scientific investigation for which we have not as yet had the facilities. 



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