MAKING AN ORCHARD. 163 



amiss with the trees was that the land — flat and level 

 — on which they were planted required to be drained. 



In any case, whether the fruit grower buy flat 

 bottom land or higher bench land, he will have to 

 face the cost of clearing, for no matter where you 

 go in the Kootenays, you will find trees on the land. 

 The cost of clearing will range generally from $35 

 per acre upwards, according to the density of the 

 forest growth. If he buys twenty acres, or even ten 

 acres, he will not (unless he can command a larger 

 capital than the average) proceed to clear more than 

 four or five acres in the first year. The steps neces- 

 sary for successful clearing have been already 

 described in Chapter VIII, 



But in addition to clearing (and possibly drain- 

 ing), he may have to cope with boulders and scattered 

 rocks. Loose small stones littered over the surface 

 are an objection, because of the expense of taking 

 them off; but very often the soil underneath leaves 

 nothing to be desired in point of quality. In fact, 

 the best piece of land we used at Bonnington Falls 

 was the half-acre or so from which we picked off the 

 stones in odd half-hours. Large boulders are not, 

 perhaps, a really serious drawback, except in so far 

 as they interfere with ground cultivation; and this 

 interference is reduced to a minimum if among the 

 boulders the rancher plants his cherry trees, for the 

 less the soil is disturbed about the roots of the cherry, 

 the better the tree will thrive, weeds, of course, being 

 kept down and scrub not allowed to grow. Large 

 stones or boulders lying on a slope always conserve 

 a certain amount of moisture underneath them, and 

 this rrK)isture the roots of the cherries or other fruit 



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