PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 303 



The amount of time spent in leveling the tract for planting will 

 depend much on whether or not irrigation is to be practiced. There 

 are a few successful pear growing sections in the state where 

 the trees are grown without irrigation. In such sections if it 

 is expected that trees will never be irrigated it would not be 

 necessary to spend as much time in grading, although a certain amount 

 is always desirable. If there is even a possibility of irrigating at 

 some later time this work should never be neglected. In the case of 

 land to be irrigated too much care can not be exercised in grading 

 so that water may be carried through the orchard without difficulty 

 from the main ditches or pipe lines. Difficulty is often experienced 

 in the case of new land set to trees, especially if such land has never 

 been irrigated. Settling may take place here and there throughout 

 an orchard which will prove a great disadvantage when water is ap- 

 plied later. To avoid difficulty of this nature new land should be 

 thoroughly flooded before trees are set, and then leveled afterwards. 



The physical condition of the soil should receive much attention. 

 Orchards set on lumpy, poorly worked soil can not be expected to 

 do their best. The trees will make the most satisfactory growth when 

 the soil is worked as though it were to be put into wheat or other 

 grain crop requiring a fine seed-bed. Deep plowing, especially where 

 a plowsole or hardpan exists is necessary, and even the subsoil plow may 

 be used to advantage. The feeding roots of trees are fine and delicate 

 and can not be expected to perform their normal functions to the 

 best advantage unless the soil is loose and the individual particles fine. 



MARKING AND DIGGING HOLES. 



After the ground has been plowed, leveled and put in the best 

 possible condition,the tract to be planted is marked off prior to digging 

 the holes for the trees. Sometimes this work is done with a plow, the 

 ploughman driving to stakes set in line of the rows to be planted in 

 two directions at right angles to each other. Instead of staking out 

 each row a marker may be attached to the beam of the plow. This 

 marker traces the line of the next row to be plowed parallel to the 

 one being made. The points of intersection of the furrows mark the 

 places for the trees, and holes are dug at these points throughout the 

 field. Instead of the plow being used in this work the entire tract may 

 be staked off by means of a transit or level, or by sighting to stakes set 

 on boundaries of the field and on one or more rows between. This 

 method requires a great deal of care and an accurate eye. Small, 

 fairly level tracts can be quite easily and accurately marked by this 

 method. There are various devices used for measuring and finding 

 the corners which are more or less familiar to orchardists, and a detailed 

 description is not necessary here. Every one, in setting out an orchard, 

 should take a pride in getting the rows straight, as the value is greatly 

 enhanced from an aesthetic point of view, if the alignment is perfect. 



DYNAMITING HOLES. 



The use of dynamite in loosening the soil to a considerable depth 

 where trees are to be planted is now very general. A special grade 

 is made for orchard work, and the amount used in each hole 



