ROCKS 11 
often littered with fragments of rock, of all sizes and 
lying in all positions. Intrinsically these rock fragments 
are not in themselves inimical to good orchards. If you 
lift up a stone on a mountain-side in even the drier part 
of the year, you will frequently find that the soil under- 
neath it is moist and damp. Therefore the presence of 
stones of a fair size scattered over the surface of your 
orchard slope means so much more moisture for your trees 
to draw upon in the height of the summer, when the 
ground on the surface tends to become dry and parched. 
On the other hand, rocks of the size of boulders, and so 
also a heavy accumulation of stones, no matter what 
their size, are a great hindrance to cultivation. They 
can only be described as a nuisance, and they are a 
decided eyesore. The best time to remove them is 
before planting begins. If they are only few in number 
or very thinly scattered over the surface, they can be 
left, either permanently or for removal at some later time 
when work is somewhat slack. The best way to dispose of 
these is to empty them into some hollow or gully or hole, 
which it would be an improvement to fill up, or use them 
for making rubble walls for cellars, barns, or other 
buildings, or for building fence walls. If they are large 
they must be cracked with charges of dynamite or by fire. 
and the fragments removed. When using fire, make the 
stones red-hot, then pour on them the coldest water you 
can get. That will generally crack them well. Neither a 
scattering of loose surface stones nor a few big boulders 
are so wholly objectionable as a hard gravel-bed. This 
you can neither dig nor plough, except at almost super- 
human cost; and even if you do plant it, the trees 
