1594 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



saving of time. The young trees start off 

 more rapidly if the soil is previously 

 thoroughly prepared. Orientals and Bart- 

 letts may be planted on newly cleared 

 land when no other is available, but, as a 

 rule, the land should be planted to a crop 

 for at least a year or two before setting 

 out the trees. Most soils suitable for pear 

 culture have a more or less stiff clayey 

 subsoil. It is a great advantage to thor- 

 oughly loosen this subsoil by plowing or 

 subsoiling before setting out the trees. 

 If the orchard is planted in the fall of the 

 year, which is the preferable time in the 

 Eastern and Southern states, the land 

 may be subsoiled by following with a 

 subsoil plow immediately after the turn- 

 ing plow. It is not necessary, however, 

 to subsoil the whole area of the orchard 

 unless this is desired for the cultivation 

 of other crops among the trees. The land 

 may be plowed first, and then a special 

 preparation of plowing and subsoiling 

 may be given to a strip about 6 feet wide 

 on which the tree row is planted. This 

 may be widened by subsoiling a strip 

 around the trees each year ahead of the 

 spreading roots until the middle is 



KjiiII 



reached. Of course, very good prepara- 

 tion in many parts of the country for 

 meadow or pasture land would consist in 

 plowing it up rather early in the fall, 

 then harrowing a strip on which the trees 

 are to be planted. More orchards have 

 been planted without subsoiling than 

 with it. 



How to Plant Out the Orchard 



Each orchardist will no doubt develop 

 some method of his own in planting out 

 the orchard. There are many methods, 

 however, of undertaking the work by 

 which time is saved and accuracy secured. 

 One of the simplest ways of planting out 

 an orchard, and a very good one under 

 certain circumstances, is to measure off 

 the land with a tapeline or pole, driving 

 a small stake at the end of each row 

 around the orchard, and then with a one- 

 horse plow, or other convenient imple- 

 ment, check off the field into squares. 

 The trees are then planted at the inter- 

 sections of the furrows made by the 

 plow. On level land, with a skilled man 

 to run the furrows, quite accurate results 

 may be obtained by this method. As a 

 rule, however, the writer has found an- 

 other method preferable, namely, plant- 

 ing by stakes. The method by furrows is 

 objectionable for two reasons: (1) In 

 order to save digging the holes it was 

 found desirable to plow out a deep dead 

 furrow with a two-horse plow, making 

 from three to five trips, and when this 

 large dead furrow was thrown out it was 

 impossible to use it as a planting guide 

 with any accuracy; (2) difficulty was en- 

 countered in securing accurately laid-off 

 furrows, especially on rough land or land 

 where any sort of obstacles intervened. 



The method of planting by stakes 

 starts out essentially the same as the 

 above method, by settin.g pegs and laying 

 off with the plow. The pegs should be 

 put a rod or two outside of the outer row 

 of trees and parallel to it all around the 

 block. These pegs may be quite small, 

 split from a block of wood, and should be 

 set accurately. A quantity of stakes 

 should be made 4 to 6 feet long. The 

 head man takes an armful of stakes, and 

 beginning at the peg back of tree No. 1 



