Preference uiw 
Agricultural Library 
NOTES ON A DRY LAND ORCHARD 
By J. E. PAYNE 
In 1894, a few trees were planted at The Plains Substation at 
Cheyenne Wells. These consisted of a few each of cherry, plum and 
apple trees. Some gooseberry plants were set out at the same time. 
Among the apple trees planted were four Wealthy trees which were 
headed about five feet high. These were set at the regulation depth— 
two or three inches deeper than they had been in the nursery row. 
These Wealthy trees were planted in a row along the east side of 
the main apple orchard, between the apple orchard and the house 
yard. It happened that the space west of the trees was kept culti¬ 
vated up to the time of digging the trees out, while the space east of 
them had not been cultivated since 1903. By 1910, two of the trees 
were dead and the two remaining were in bad condition, especially 
on the east side of each tree. 
In 1905, the main orchard was planted in deep-plowed ground. 
The trees set this year were set in holes dug in dead furrows and 
about half a barrel of water was put into each hole before planting 
the trees. It was a very dry time when the trees were planted, but 
all of them lived. These trees were set only a few inches deeper than 
they grew in the nursery. All were headed rather low. These trees 
all grew well. The orchard was kept cultivated so that few weeds 
grew there. Several trees were killed by rabbits the first winter 
after they were planted, but only one died from other causes, and 
it seemed to have been diseased when first set out. 
In 1897, the vacancies in the orchard were filled with apple 
trees which were shipped from an irrigated nursery. All these 
trees were headed from four to five feet high. As the high-headed 
trees set in 1894 had grown very little during the three years they 
had been planted, it was thought best to set these deep enough so 
that the heads would be the proper height. Deep holes were dug, 
and they were Dianted two to two and a half feet deeper than they 
grew in the nursery. They all grew well and were soon larger than 
the trees planted in 1894. In the spring of 1910, these deep-set 
trees were as large as some of the trees set shallow in 1895. 
When the orchard was planted, the trees were set so that each 
tree occupied a space nearly twenty-three and one-half feet square. 
When the orchard was inspected in the spring of 1910, branches 
were almost meeting in many places. When the orchard was 
trimmed, one-third of the trees were marked for cutting out in or¬ 
der to give room for further development. At this time, the trees 
were from six to twelve inches in diameter at the ground. 
♦ 
This orchard had grown entirely with the water which fell 
