PREPARING LAND FOR FRUIT 



07 



Burning of the Debris. However the trees and underbrush 

 may be wrenched from the soil, fire is the final cleaner. Where 

 trees are to be worked up into fire-wood, it should be done as soon 

 as they are felled, for the work is much less than after they become 

 dry and hard. If it is not designed to break the land the first 

 winter, the wood is left to season and it becomes lighter and easier 

 to handle. The brush and roots, if no use is to be made of them, 

 can be left to lie on the clearing to dry out during the following 

 summer, and after the first rains of the following fall the whole 

 area can be burned over. Such stumps as do not burn with the 

 brush must be gathered in piles and re-fired. Burning before the 

 first rain should not be attempted, unless it be in exceptional situa- 

 tions, because of the danger of communicating fire to the surround- 

 ing country, which is a standing danger in our dry climate. Under 

 the present law it becomes necessary to secure permission from the 

 State Forester at Sacramento before starting field fires in the dry 

 season. After the rain, clean up the ground perfectly. 



First Crop on a Clearing. It is the opinion of some clearers 

 in the redwood region that the soil is not fit for fruit trees the first 

 year after the original growth is removed, and they grow a field 

 crop the first year. They claim that peas are the best corrective 

 of "redwood poisoning," and fortunately in the upper redwood dis- 

 trict they have a climate well suited to the pea. Whether their 

 theory is right or not, their practice is of advantage, because they 

 get a better cultivation and aeration of the soil, and kill out much 

 of the sprouting from the old roots, which is usually quite per- 

 sistent in the moister parts of the State. Usually the tree and vine 

 planter is in such haste to realize from his labor that he does not 

 allow the first year to go for any side issue. 



Surface Leveling and Draining. There is often occasion to 

 clear the land of stone and rocks. The latter should be blasted out 

 of the way so that the land may be clear for the plow and culti- 

 vator. Once in a while one will come upon a stone wall inclosing 

 an orchard in this State, as trim and true a wall as the most thrifty 

 New England farmer can boast, but walls are not common. Our 

 valley orchard lands are, as a rule, naturally as free from stont 

 as they are from underbrush, but on the hills it is different. Prob 

 ably the best way to dispose of much of the stone is to dig trencher 

 in the natural water runs, put in stone, cover with small brush, 

 and then with soil deep enough so the plow will not reach the 

 brush. This disposes of the stone for all time, and at the same 

 time helps to drain the soil. Concerning other treatment of the 

 land after the rubbish is removed, P. W. Butler writes as follows : 



When water runs are wide, lateral ditches should be cut extending 

 entirely through the moist areas. If during the rainy season a run is 

 likely to have more water than can be conveyed properly through a 



