CHAPTER II 

 ORCHARD LANDS 



WHILE there is considerable variation in the type of soil re- 

 quired by different classes of orchard fruits, and while in a few 

 cases we have even worked out, with considerable accuracy, the 

 soil preferences of individual varieties, yet it is surprising how 

 nearly the ideal orchard conditions for most fruits agree. For 

 example, they all agree in being subject to damage by winds, 

 none of them thrive well on wet lands, and all of them are safer 

 on lands which are not liable to frosts. We may therefore feel 

 fairly safe in generalizing on orchard lands, and the following 

 score card has been worked out for use in classes. In this is a 

 list of the points which ought to be included in^an examination of 

 an orchard site, and an effort is made to estimate the relative 

 importance of these different points. The score card is, of course, 

 by no means ideal, but it does include the most important items 

 and it ought to be suggestive to a prospective orchard planter. 



Score Card for Orchard Site 



Counts. 



A. Soil 30 



a. Surface soil 15 



1. Fertility; chemical character; too fertile or not 



fertile enough. 



2. Adaptation to fruit grown. 



3. Ease of working. 



4. Sour. 



5. Humus. 



6. Subsoil 15 



1. Ease of penetration by roots. 



2 1 . Fertility; pure sand vs. gravelly clay. 



B. Water drainage 30 



a. Surface drainage 10 



1. Good? Does water stand? 



2. Too much? 



(a) Washing, loss of soil and fertility. 

 (6) Loss of water. 

 8 



