110 Speed in Planting. 
ing. The rains then leach it out and it may be turned under in 
the spring plowing. There are, however, light soils in the drier 
parts of the State where turning under manure in the spring is 
a disadvantage, as it makes the soil too porous and facilitates 
evaporation. On such soils, extra care should be taken to have 
the manure thoroughly decomposed by composting, as will be 
described in the chapter on fertilizers, and all applications should 
be made either late in the spring to act as a mulch during the 
summer, or if a mulch is not thought desirable, apply the manure 
in the fall before the first rains, so that it may be turned under at 
the first plowing and have the whole winter for disintegration. 
In this dry climate there is often misapprehension, especially 
among newcomers, as to what is well-rotted manure. They 
take the scrapings of the corral, which have been trampled and 
pulverized, but which, having been kept dry, have never rotted. 
When this is put in the holes with the tree and then moistened 
by rainfall or irrigation, it will burn the tree, the first sign of 
the injury being the drving up of the leaves. It is, on the whole, 
safest and best to put nothing but well-pulverized surface scil 
around the roots of the young tree. 
Depth of Planting —The depth to which trees should be set 
has always been a matter of discord among planters. The saf- 
est rule under ordinary circumstances is to get the tree as nearly 
as possible the same depth it stood in the nursery row; that is, 
so as to have it stand that way when the ground has settled, or 
the surface returned by cultivation to its normal level. In plant- 
ing in loose soil in the drier parts of the State, it is often desir- 
able to plant rather low, because several inches depth of the 
surface soil become dry, and it is desirable that the roots should 
be well in the moist layer. But if irrigation is to be practised, 
it must be remembered that the water lfevel will rise when the 
soil is saturated, and deep-planted trees are apt to suffer. The 
experience of recent years is decidedly against deep planting, 
which used to be advised because of our dry climate. Thou- 
sands of trees have been ruined by planting too deep. 
Speed in Planting —On good soil, well prepared, trees can 
be put in rapidly ancl the job still be well done. It is reported 
that on one occasion, in planting almonds, twenty men finished 
sixty-four acres from Friday noon to Wednesday night, plac- 
ing the stakes, digging the holes, and planting the trees. 
This would be almost three-quarters of an acre per day per man. 
In platting peaches and apricots an average of one hundred 
trees per day to the man has been attained. On the mellow 
loam, in another case, the average was one hundred and twenty- 
five trees to the man, digging holes two feet square in land 
which had been plowed twelve inches deep. Such work is only 
