Locality and Site for the Commercial Orchard 121 



considerable fruit, but in buying young acreage one should 

 seldom figure that an orchard will attain even fair com- 

 mercial bearing before eight years for irrigated sections 

 or ten to twelve years for non-irrigated districts. The age 

 at which trees cease to be profitable depends somewhat on 

 the region, but more on the care and variety. Most of the 

 bearing orchards in western New York are forty or more 

 years old and some remain profitable at fifty and even 

 sixty years. These trees have received moderately good 

 care. Those which have been allowed to break down, to 

 become infected with disease and insect pests, and which 

 have not received proper cultural treatment have long since 

 passed out of profitable bearing. 



The matter of longevity is often brought up in con- 

 nection with investment in irrigated orchards. The 

 question is asked whether irrigated trees forced into early 

 bearing will be profitable at the end of fifty years as is 

 the case with some New York orchards. Early maturity 

 usually indicates shorter life. If the western growers 

 would maintain fertility by cover-crops and by the appli- 

 cation of fertilizer in quantities commensurate with crop 

 production, the .drain on soil fertility would be largely 

 offset. Greater care and protection given the trees 

 against insects and diseases will also have an important 

 influence on the life of the trees in these intensive regions. 

 Since practically all the commercial orchards on irri- 

 gated land have been set out in the past twenty-five years, 

 there are no concrete examples as a basis for comparison. 



In speculating on the longevity of the irrigated orchards, 

 it is safe to say that the present plan of close planting 

 must be greatly modified to meet the increased size of 

 the trees. At present the average planting distance is 



