18 



general theory of no capital and snatch-crops. It is not 

 thus that fruit-farming is made a commercial success other- 

 wheres. A certain sort of success, although decidedly no t 

 the best, may be attained by spreading the total expendi- 

 ture in trenching over several years. Thus an orchard of 

 say 20 acres,* upon a gentle slope, may be trenched up in 

 strips of land straight down the incline with a drain along- 

 side each strip. Eor example let the trenched piece No. 1 

 be laid off 20 feet wide and the drain to follow. 



The next plot of 20 feet is ploughed up the first year 

 and used for a snatch- crop. In the second year, it is 

 trenched exactly as was No. I. Next to this lies the third 

 plot trenched up at the same time as No. I. Then comes 

 a second line of drain, followed by plot No IV., treated as 

 was No. II. for a first year's snatch-crop and a second 

 year's trenching. And thus the alternations go on over the 

 whole area. By this means about half the cost of complete 

 trenching an acre to be devoted to fruit culture would be 

 distributed over perhaps two or three years. The greut 

 thing however to be enforced is that a scamping treatment 



* At present there is scarcely any such thing in this country ; what we call 

 rchards, a Calif ornian or Florida grower would call a " fruit-garden." 



