30 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



gallon water is applied; such areas should be thoroughly 

 watered before an attempt is made to level them. As a 

 rule the higher knolls settle most, and leveling before set- 

 tling often moves soil that must be moved back after the 

 process of settling is completed. 



One of the first steps in preparing such land for planting 

 is to plow furrows and run water as high as possible on 

 these high places. As a rule they will sink to a level with 

 the surrounding land; in fact, the presence of these knolls 

 is often considered an indication that the land will settle. 

 The settling cannot be completed in a few days, but the 

 bad spots will go down, and future settling is gradual, and 

 seldom seriously affects the general lay of the land. While 

 the settling may continue for three or four years, land that 

 has been properly watered the first season seldom settles so 

 much but that it may be easily releveled without disturb- 

 ing the trees. The soils that settle most are those built up 

 by a decomposition of shale and sandstone, and while they 

 generally lay comparatively level, the surface is more or 

 less undulating. 



Orchard land should be well leveled before an attempt 

 is made to plant it; leveling after the trees are planted 

 is very unsatisfactory, to say nothing of the difficulty 

 experienced in watering the young orchard on land im- 

 properly leveled. It need not be a uniform grade all over 

 the area, but the grower should have it in such shape that 

 he can form a definite plan for irrigating it. Few fruit- 

 growers go to the trouble of going over the land with a 

 surveyor's level, although it would pay in many cases. We 

 have seen fields broken by having a head ditch run across 

 one corner when the level would have shown that the ditch 



