APPLES 
Many purchasers of cleared land after 
paying a large price have found that 
only the surface had been cleared and 
that the land could not be cultivated until 
the roots were removed. Experienced 
men would rather have the stumps where 
they can be seen than have them cut off 
and covered up. 
(Arranged by Wm. Worthington from Bureau 
of Plant Industry Bulletin 239 by Harry 
Thompson. ) 
Clearing in Irrigated Sections 
Since all our apple orchards in New 
Mexico must be irrigated, it is necessary 
that before planting the trees the land 
be prepared as much as possible in order 
to facilitate irrigation. As a rule it is 
best, if it is new land, and especially one 
with sand hills all over it, to break it up 
and plant it to some hoed crop the first 
year. In this way one will get the land 
in better shape for the trees the following 
season. In the Rio Grande valley sandy 
115 
spots which have been leveled down are 
usually very deficient in plant food, and 
it may take two or three or even more 
years to get the soil where these sand 
hills were to be as fertile as the rest of 
the land. The land to be used for an 
orchard. should be deeply plowed and 
harrowed before planting. After the land 
has been properly plowed comes the ques- 
tion of how to lay it off in order to irri- 
gate the young trees most economically 
and to the best advantage. A very good 
method is to plow out small ditches about 
one or two feet wide at the bottom. Plant 
the trees in the bottom of these ditches. 
These ditches will serve for irrigating the 
trees the first and even the second year, 
without having to irrigate the middle be- 
tween the trees. This is a very impor- 
tant point to consider and especially so 
where water is expensive, or where the 
middles are not to be planted to crops. 
FABIAN GARCIA, 
Santa Fe, N. M. 
Uncleared Sage Brush. Brush of This Size Usually Indicates a Deep Fertile Soil. 
