THE CULTIVATION OF FRUIT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



3 



But this is surely the most natural way to grow fruit, as here there is no 

 washing of soil, no loss of plant food, no extra labour. Its only drawback 

 is the comparatively small area on which sufficient seepage can be found 

 — namely, where the immediately surrounding hills are high enough 

 to feed the lower lands with moisture from melting snow, and where 

 the land is not too rocky, or liable to flood, to make fruit-growing 

 practicable. 



Reviewing the districts, each one has its peculiarities, from drought 

 on some of the western islands to the damp and lichens of the coast, 

 through the hot reaches round Pentiction and Keremos, through the 

 erstwhile land of scrub round Okanagan Lake, to the timbered lands of 

 West Kootenay, and on to East Kootenay's parched valleys. Some parts 

 are well settled and others contain only isolated ranches. In the more 

 settled places land has risen in value until it is almost beyond the reach 

 of the average settler, whereas in the more easterly parts it can be bought 

 for a quarter the price — land standing in timber, it is true, but land 

 which has supported fine forest trees, and which will support fine fruit 

 trees if the climate is not too severe. The chosen site of nature's forest 

 is better suited to the growth of fruit trees than land unable at one 

 time to support more than sage-bush and greasewood, forced out of 

 a dryness too great for timber into an orchard grown by artificial 

 irrigation. 



Heavy clearing characterizes the land near the coast, light clearing in 

 and about the Okanagan and Kettle Paver Districts, and medium clearing 

 in the Kootenays. The cost of clearing an acre of land ready for the 

 plough ranges from 50 dollars to 500 dollars, According to the district. 



In travelling about British Columbia I was struck by the fact that 

 in most cases ten acres (a one man's orchard) was all the land a man 

 had. His future firewood was not considered. During the first years, 

 tons of wood in timbered districts were burned to get at the soil, and 

 I feel sure that a few years hence the complaint of the lack of cheap fuel 

 will be great. The man is wise who in starting on timbered lands saves 

 all the wood he can for fuel, and I would go still further and say that he 

 should, if possible, acquire cheap adjoining land unsuited for fruit from 

 which he can get his future fuel. I would also advise him to go to 

 the lesser known parts to start his orchard, for if good land is chosen, 

 with means of transport for fruit, there is no fear but that in due time 

 neighbours will come. I have in mind parts of the West Kootenay 

 District where good land may be bought at a reasonable figure, and a 

 steep piece of hill-side bought to yield fuel. In the process of clearing 

 timbered lands and burning large quantities of wood to get at the soil 

 an excess of potash is formed, and clover crops grown and ploughed 

 in are a necessity to bring back the nitrogen. In many cases the dense 

 timber has excluded the sun for generations, and time which is given 

 for the sun to sweeten the soil after clearing on these lands is time 

 not wasted, but well spent. Often the neglect of such things as clover 

 and sunshine results in disappointment in the early stages of an orchard. 



Again, the stumps of trees are too often left in the ground in the race 

 to get a piece of land planted, and these are always in the way, difficult 

 to pull out and impossible to blow out after an orchard has been planted, 



b 2 



