40 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
In preparing the orchard land, wherever possible the plow was followed by a subsoil plow that cut into the earth I 6” or I 8". This is the 
start of the third orchard 
COUNTING THE COST OF FARMING—III 
Preparing the Orchard Land—Staking Out Trees-—How the Pond Was Made and Its Fifty- 
Cent Profit the First Year 
FLORA LEWIS MARBLE 
We were plan¬ 
ning to plant 
nearly fifty acres 
to apple trees. 
Between the rows 
of apple trees we 
were to grow po¬ 
tatoes for the first 
eight or ten years, 
the potato crop to 
pay partially the 
upkeep expense 
of the orchards 
until their bearing 
time. 
To a trained 
orchardist this 
project would 
have been simply 
a matter of calcu¬ 
lation, investment 
and achievement; 
to us its planning 
was an absorbing 
new study, and 
the investment of 
brains and money 
necessary to s e t 
the trees was an adventurous experience 
full of new emotions. There is no life so 
full of excitement as farm life—if you 
were not born to it. 
We decided to go slow, and the first 
fall a little less than four acres were made 
ready and planted; the next spring nearly 
two acres more were set out; the next fall 
twenty acres, followed by the last twenty 
acres the spring thereafter. 
The cost of preparing the land for these 
different orchards has resulted in an inter¬ 
esting set of figures. 
Before the young tree is 
set, its roots must be ex¬ 
amined and slashed and 
all diseased shoots cut off 
$24.97, bringing the total to $27.97. 
On this land we planted 197 trees, mak¬ 
ing the cost per tree for preparing the land 
only about 14^2 cents. 
The next fall 20 acres were made ready 
to plant. On this land were thirty or forty 
old apple and cherry trees that had to be 
removed. Some of the land was pasture 
which had never been plowed, and much 
of it was stony. Many stones were removed 
for the road building; this is not charged 
here. The soil was the best we had. A 
fine rich loam for three feet was underlaid 
by soft clay, and, in places, strata of shale 
rock. Here the plow was always followed 
by the subsoil plow that cut the ground 
sixteen to eighteen inches. The cost of 
Thus the total expense 
of making ready to plant 
came to $265.06. 
On this land we planted 
429 trees. This made the 
cost of preparing the land 
for one tree almost 62 
cents. 
The next spring we 
planted 197 trees. This 
land lay on a hillside. 
The top soil was good 
loam for a foot or so, be¬ 
low which shale rock and 
strata of sandy soil lay. 
There was no work re¬ 
quired on this soil but 
plowing and clearing. The 
subsoil plow was not used. 
This operation cost as 
follows: 
The first orchard of less than four acres 
had a top soil of rich loam from ten inches 
to two feet deep. Beneath this lay a brown 
clay subsoil six or seven feet deep. This 
land had a good slope, but was boggy in 
spots in the spring. It was found best to 
drain it with agricultural tile and put ditches 
about the edges to catch the surface water 
draining into the field. The cost of making 
it ready to plant was as follows; 
Entire cost of plowing, subsoil plow¬ 
ing, plowing for ditches and har¬ 
rowing . $47.60 
4,000 feet of 3-inch agricultural tile, 
freight paid . 100.00 
Hauling tile to field from station. . . 10.00 
Labor laying tile. 107.46 
Clearing brush, $3.00; 
plowing and harrowing. 
In order to set trees in exact lines, a home-made measuring 
tool was used. It pivoted on a center pole which swept the 
possible circumference of the trees 
