I 
298 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
PLANTING AND MANAGEMENT OF AN ORCHARD. 
Lists and Description of Varieties adapted to Wisconsin. 
BY G. P. PEFFER, PEWAUKEE. 
In selecting the site for an orchard the first and most im¬ 
portant things to be considered are the character of the soil, ex¬ 
posure and shelter. Much of the success of the investment de¬ 
pends upon these points. 
The soil best adapted for the purpose is what is called a 
vegetable mould, composed largely of decayed vegetable mat¬ 
ter mixed with sand or gravel and some clay. Good depth of 
soil is also necessary. The subsoil may be either of sand, 
gravel or clay, or a mixture of these, but should be naturally 
porous or made so by subsoiling and under-draining. To get 
healthy, productive trees we must secure a thorough ripening 
of the wood before the heavy frosts of fall come on, and on this 
account we should avoid a retentive subsoil. Where the sub¬ 
soil of the whole farm is composed largely of clay, select the 
highest and dryest land, where the surface may be the most 
thorough drained, either by ridging up, subsoiling or a s} r stem 
of under-drains, or by all these methods combined. On our 
prairies, as a rule, the dryest and poorest soil is the most suit¬ 
able for an orchard, while in the “openings/' the dryest and 
richest should be selected. Where the lay of the farm and 
the make of the soil is such as not to admit of either surface 
or under-draining, the land wet, with a stiff clay underneath, 
subsoil as deeply as possible—at least sixteen or eighteen 
inches—and by repeated plowings throw the surface up into 
narrow ridges, so that descending each way from the lows of 
trees the surface water will run off readily. 
Exposure —The general rolling character of the surface of 
