CHAPTER VIII. 



Clearing and Planting. 



It was the middle of April when we actually began 

 ranching operations. My first aim was to get some fruit 

 trees planted, so as to save a good twelvemonth towards 

 the time of their maturing. In Canada the spring is 

 the season when most fruit trees are planted. I am 

 well aware it would have been more scientific to 

 plough the land and sow it with clover before attempt- 

 ing to plant. But one does not always do, one is 

 not always able to do, what one knows quite well 

 ought to be done. It must be remembered that the 

 ground I had to deal with was completely stripped of 

 its big trees and bigger scrub. What remained was 

 creeping vegetation, like the Oregon grape and the 

 thimbleberry, a sort of bushy raspberry, with tough, 

 ramifying roots. We measured out our orchard 

 ground, arranging to plant the apple trees 30 feet 

 apart every way, and all other fruit trees at intervals 

 of 20 feet both from tree to tree and from row^ to row. 

 Then, where each tree was to come, we dug the 

 surface for a distance of six or eight feet square, and 

 afterwards, when the fruit trees arrived, put one tree 

 in the middle of each square of clean, well-dug land. 

 Even then, by the time we had finished planting, 



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