Page 



BETTER FRUIT 



April 



ORCHARD DRAINAGE AND THE NECESSITY OF IT 



BY A. H. CARSON, COMMISSIONER THIRD DISTRICT, GRANTS PASS OREGON 



THERE are many orchards, already 

 planted and being planted, where 

 the question of drainage has not 

 had the thought and consideration of the 

 planter that it should have to warrant 

 the future success of the orchard. A 

 fruit tree of any kind cannot be planted 

 in wet, cold soil, thrive and be a source 

 of profit. If the land is not naturally 

 drained by a gravel sub-soil that is 

 porous and freely admits the water from 

 winter rains passing through it and 

 draining off below then it should be 

 drained by tiling. 



Many of our tree planters take it for 

 granted that our hill slopes are naturally 

 drained because of the grade to the 

 slope when as a matter of fact there are 

 but few hill slopes in Southern Oregon 

 that would not be materially beneiited 

 and improved by under draining with tile. 



Our hill slopes in Southern Oregon 

 are clay loams, often resting on a stiff 

 clay sub-soil or hardpan from two to 

 three feet below the surface soil. During 

 our winter rains these red clay loams, 

 if resting on a clay sub-soil or a hardpan, 

 hold water in suspension, fill up and the 

 water then flows off over the surface. 

 A wet winter keeps soils of this charac- 

 ter filled with water from three to four 

 months during the wet period. A fruit 

 tree planted in such soil has its roots 

 submerged during all the wet period of 

 the year until in many cases the tree is 

 drowned — actually killed. If not killed 

 its vitality is so greatly weakened by the 

 roots being submerged for so long a 

 period that when the growing period 

 arrives it fails to respond, and eventu- 

 ally dies. 



The hill slopes of Southern Oregon, 

 from surface indications, look the same — 

 red loam. Their adaptability to the 

 growth of fruit of any kind is a question 

 of depth, and the texture of the sub-soil 

 to facilitate drainage. If the red clay 

 loam soil has a depth of four to more 

 feet, resting on a porous gravel or on 

 decomposed bedrock, then such condi- 

 tions would insure natural drainage, and 

 such soil could be safely planted to the 

 apple and pear, and would, by thorough 

 cultivation to conserve moisture, give 

 the planter returns for care bestowed. 

 On the other hand, should this red clay 

 loam be from two to three feet in depth, 

 resting on a clay sub-soil, such soil 

 should never be planted to fruit of any 

 kind until under drained. This is a shal- 

 low soil, with the water table too near 

 the surface, which would hold water 

 during the wet period, which would 

 drown the tree planted in it. The only 

 way to make these shallow soils avail- 

 able for successful tree growth is by 

 under drainage by tiling. A fruit tree 

 planted in soil of this shallow depth 

 (the water table being but a foot or 

 two below the surface) would not 

 have depth of soil sufficient to anchor 

 itself to sustain the force of a strong- 

 wind storm when the ground is saturated 

 with water, as the. roots will not pene- 

 trate below the water table. Then there 

 is not a depth of soil that would give 



soil enough for the tree (should it live) 

 to draw nourishment enough to mature 

 a crop of fruit, and it would not be prac- 

 tical, with the best cultivation, to make 

 a tree grow in such a shallow soil, for 

 the reason that soil, being filled with 

 water during the wet period, would not 

 drain off until late in the spring, when 

 the top would bake, and then, if stirred 

 with a plow, heavy clods would form, 

 and it would be impossible to make it 

 fine and create the dust mulch, so neces- 

 sary to conserve moisture for the growth 

 of the tree during the dry period of the 

 season. Without this dust mulch such 

 shallow soils dry out through capillary 

 attraction to the water table and the 

 tree perishes for the want of moisture. 



Where the water table is near the 

 surface these shallow soils, during the 

 wet period, are the wettest soils we have 

 on this Coast and during our dry period 

 are the driest. A soil of this kind can 

 be made available for fruit growing by 

 lowering the water table to four to five 

 feet below the surface by under draining 

 by tiling. By tiling to a depth of four 

 to five feet the winter rains pass through 

 these soils and drain off through the tile. 

 In a year or two this draining off through 

 the soil causes the clay sub-soil to break 

 up, slake and become porous, and to the 

 depth you have laid the tile you have 

 deepened the soil. It takes from two 

 to three years after the tile is laid for 

 all the stiff clay sub-soil to break up and 

 become porous. We under drain shal- 

 low soils, and by so doing accomplish 

 a greater depth of soil. We carry off the 

 excess of water that falls during a wet 

 winter through the soil to the drains 

 below. We create a depth of soil that 

 has double the amount of storage of 

 water by absorption that we can con- 

 serve for the growing tree by good culti- 

 vation, and also a fine dust mulch. By 

 drainage we carry the water through the 

 soil, which is a fertilizer, making it pos- 

 sible for whatever plant food there is in 

 the soil to decay and become soluble for 

 the growing tree, and through the action 

 of the air passing through the soil give 

 the tree the essential gases — oxygen and 

 nitrogen — it must have for a healthy 

 growth. 



As paradoxical as it may seem, we tile 

 wet land to make it dry and also to make 

 it wet. This is seemingly contradictory, 

 yet it is a fact. Still it is no more a fact 

 than that our wettest soils during a wet 

 period are our driest soils during a dry 

 period. By tiling we make it possible 

 for air circulation through the tile and 

 through the soil. At the driest period 

 the air at night is always charged with 

 more or less invisible moisture, and by 

 the air circulating through the tile and 

 soil particles condensation occurs because 

 of the difference in temperature, and the 

 moisture is left in the soil for the grow- 

 ing plant. This has been one of our 

 very dry years, and where irrigation 

 could not be had many growing crops 

 have been short, and this shortage is 

 particularly noted on shallow soils. On 

 all soils that have been under drained 



by tiling it has been (ibserved that crops, 

 both fruit and truck, have grown lux- 

 uriantly. The under drained soils have 

 had a continual supply of moisture from, 

 condensation that occurs from air cir- 

 culation through the soil by way of 

 the tile. 



Many of our hill slopes that do not 

 require drainage to carry off the water 

 from heavy rains can be made very pro- 

 ductive by tiling, so as to create the 

 necessary moisture for growing crops by 

 air circulation through the soil. 



Where drainage is contemplated the 

 one who does it must not forget that the 

 deeper the tile is laid the greater area 

 of ground it will drain, and the deeper 

 he has made his soil. Another essential 



J. M. Schmeltxer, Secretary 



Hood River Abstract Company 



Hood River, Oregon 



ABSTRACTS INSURANCE 

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