COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING IN WEST VIRGINIA. 7 



planting is from $10 to $30 per acre, depending on the amount of 

 timber growth and also upon the manner of cutting down the trees. 

 Some leave the stumps, allowing the process of decay to remove 

 them. In other cases dynamite is used to blow them out. Others 

 cut the trees off level with the ground, so that the stumps will not 

 interfere seriously with the cultivation. This practice increases the 

 cost of clearing. 



When a contract is let for clearing land under average conditions, 

 the cost is about $20 per acre. On the steep, stony mountain land 

 the cost has been $25 to $40 per acre. If it is desired to remove the 

 stumps as well as to clear the land in the manner above described, 

 the cost ranges from $50 to $60 per acre. In some cases the timber 

 may be sold at a profit, thus reducing the cost of clearing land. 



PLANTING. 



The laying-off of the land for planting is done preferably in the fall, 

 the operation requiring, after the land is measured and the stakes 

 are set, one man, two horses, and a plow. This crew should be able 

 to cover about 25 acres per day. Trees are bought in the fall at 

 prices ranging from 5 to 7 cents and are usually heeled in until the 

 soil is in condition for planting hi the spring. 



The holes for planting are made in two ways, digging with mattocks 

 and shovels or by dynamite, a practice recently adopted by several 

 orchardists. Two men should dig the holes and set 125 trees per 

 day, the average cost of these operations being 2 cents per tree. 

 When dynamiting the holes, the crew may be five men, one man to 

 drive the hole with a 10-pound sledge hammer and 3-foot steel bar, 

 one to cut the fuse and charge, one to tamp the holes, and two to set 

 the trees. This crew should set 125 trees per day at a cost of 5 cents 

 per tree. Another method of organizing the crew to make the work 

 cost about the same is for three men to drive holes on five rows/ one 

 man for each row with a box of dynamite, fuse, etc., to charge the 

 holes and prepare the fuse for lighting, and one man, usually the 

 foreman, to light the fuses on all five rows. Five men follow these 

 to throw out dirt from holes. Four men in two groups set the trees. 



The season for planting is either in the fall or in March or April. 

 Spring planting seems to be the most common in this section. 



CULTIVATING. 



The season for cultivation is April to August. The general rule 

 is to begin cultivating as early in the spring as the soil will permit. 

 On the smoother, level lands, such as red soils, the disk harrow is 

 used first and is then followed by a spring-tooth harrow. Two 

 sections of the spring-tooth harrow may be separated and connected 

 by iron bars in such a way as to permit the harrow to work up close 



