CHAPTER XIX. 



Making an Orchard. 



The most suitable time for the fruit grower to 

 arrive in British Columbia is, I should judge, early 

 in April, though some authorities recommend him 

 to aim at reaching his destination towards the autumn. 

 Arriving at the earlier period, he has a longer time 

 in which to look about him and select the locality 

 which appeals most strongly to his judgment. 



Among the factors which make principally for 

 success in the production of the choice fruits of the 

 Kootenays are the soil and the climate, pre-eminently, 

 perhaps, the climate. That subject has been already 

 touched upon in Chapter V. As regards the soil, it 

 may be stated summarily that fruit trees appear to 

 grow and thrive in nearly all kinds of soil. The 

 prevalent soil occurring, I believe, in all parts of the 

 Kootenays is a rich but light silty loam, of a reddish 

 colour, friable and easily worked, and the subsoil is 

 generally clay. The principal defect of this soil, the 

 tendency to dry quickly, is met by growing and 

 ploughing in clover or some equivalent leguminous 

 crop, and by the application of farmyard manure, 

 where procurable. Large fruit trees do not, as a rule, 

 suffer from this property of the soil — insufficient 



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