Fruit Investigation, 1906. 
15 
before they crowd. The tendency is to leave them in until the 
shape of the other trees is ruined. 
Trees as a rule are not handled carefully in transplanting and 
a larger per cent is lost than is necessary. The most common 
method of setting is to plow a furrow and with a little additional 
digging, set the titees in this. For the first watering, the water is 
generally run through this furrow. It is then filled, or left open for 
other waterings. Many leave it open the whole season, but it is 
generally thought best to fill it in and water from the sides before 
the sun gets too hot. The practice of leaving this furrow open 
for most of the summer seems to give good results, but there is 
a tendency, I believe, to set too deep. I think it a very good me¬ 
thod if the furrow is very shallow. The most common method of 
watering is to fill this furrow after the watering at planting time, 
and run new furrows on either side of the row and as close as 
possible. This system will give excellent results if the man who is 
irrigating sees that water passes all the.trees properly. It is poss¬ 
ible to water trees too often, however, and the man who is inclined 
to water too heavy should keep his ditches at some distance from 
the trees. With a scant supply of water, the system of watering- 
in the original furrow in which the trees were set will give the 
best results. Young orchards are either cultivated, or planted to 
secondary crops. The most common secondary crops are canta¬ 
loupes, potatoes, corn, oats and white beans. Cantaloupes do well 
on the lighter soils but other crops are generally sown on heavy 
soils. Oats is a poor crop for the young orchard, as it is generally 
cut just in time to force the grasshoppers to eat leaves and bark 
from the trees before frost. The cutting of any noticeable growth in 
the orchard at mid-season is a dangerous practice on this account. 
On sandy soils cantaloupes are proving a favorite crop. The fur¬ 
rows for watering the cantaloupes should be as far from the tree 
rows as possible that late watering of the trees may be avoided. 
This is very important in young peach orchards. Many inexper¬ 
ienced growers water their peach trees too late, and as a result, 
have them killed back during the winter. 
Young trees are seldom pruned carefully enough after the 
first year, and long, willowy branches which bend to the ground 
with the first load of fruit is the result. Greater distance in plant¬ 
ing should be urged and more care in regard to the forming of the 
young tree. Too many second class trees are set, the growers 
failing to realize that a poor tree is dear at any price. 
GENERAL ORCHARD CONDITIONS. 
It is a general practice among orchard men to water too much 
and neglect cultivation, and often the soil is handled very poorly. 
A large per cent of the soil is rather heavy to be handled well under 
