PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR ORCHARD. 221 



brought into immediate contact or close proximity with 

 the roots of the young tree. If the necessity for planting 

 on such a piece of land impel immediate action, very thor- 

 oughly decomposed composts may be applied, mixed with 

 the soil about the tree, but successive applications of ma- 

 nures will be needed over the entire surface, for the roots 

 are destined to occupy the whole extent of soil between 

 the trees. 



The next step in the preparation is the digging of the 

 holes for planting the trees. Some persons lay great stress 

 upon the importance of having these made large and deep, 

 which may be very well in a grass lawn with a few trees, 

 but it is a very expensive matter for the orchard of thous- 

 ands or even of hundreds. The holes should be prepared 

 as wide as the field, and as deep as the plow can stir it, as 

 already directed ; that is the kind of holes that should be 

 dug ; if the land have been prepared in this manner, the 

 opening of the holes and planting the orchard, either deep 

 or shallow, becomes a very simple matter. 



Having determined the distance at which the trees shall 

 stand from one another, and the order or plan of planting, 

 flag poles are to be set in the line to be occupied by the 

 first row of trees, and a deep furrow is then opened with 

 a large plow, drawn by a pair of steady horses. The poles 

 are moved and set for the next row of trees, and so on, 

 until the whole is laid off, making the furrows as straight 

 as possible. This done, a single horse with a lighter plow 

 is driven across these deep furrows at the proper distance, 

 so that the intersections shall indicate the stations for the 

 trees. Strong stakes, about four or five feet long, are then 

 driven firmly at these intersections, and if the marking- 



