The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-12-01

books can be used here. L am glad 10
answer all inquiries about fruit grow
ing as far as can but prefer to answer
through the columns of the Ranch.
Hugh Stonebraker, of Ellensburg,
Wash, under date of Oct. II, 1907,
asks these questions: "Will you kind
ly give me your opinion as to which
is the better for this valley (Kittitas),
fall or spring setting of fruit trees. 1t
seems to be matter of dispute here
among our orchardists, some claiming
fall setting to be much better Could
you advise me as to some good publ
cation on orcharding for an anna
teur?"
The question of fall or spring plant
ing of trees in the orchard is an old
one and good men are arrayed on
both sides. There is nothing to be
gained in fall planting unless 1t is
time, for the tree remains dormant till
warm weather comes in the spring,
whether it is set in the orchard or is
heeled in a trench. There is some
danger however, in fall planting that
can be avoided by heeling the trees
in deeply. 1t would not do to set
trees as deep in the orchard as they
can be covered when heeled in a
trench. A tree should be set but lit
tie deeper in the orchard than it grew
in the nursery row. Two or three in
ches deeper is permissible but deeper
setting retards the growth of the tree
for few years. Now, if tree is set
in the fall and the ground freezes as
deep or deeper than the roots of the
newly set tree go, it will be SER
iously hurt. So the advisabilty of fall
setting depends on how deep the
ground is likely to freeze. My opin-
ion is that in the Kittitas valley the
ground may in the absence of snow
freeze below the roots of the tree and
seriously impair it. From this stand
point I would advise heeling in the
trees or let them remain in the nur-
sery till early spring and then plant
as soon as the ground is in suitable
condition Tramp the soil well arounG
the tree after setting, to exclude the
air. Some one may ask II it will not
hurt the young tree in the nursery
row if it is not quite so deep In the
ground as when it is set out. No, the
roots of the young tree extend much
lower than where they are cut Off and
can help to ward off the effect of the
freezing but when it is dug up and set
out it's vitality is impaired and 1t needs
extra protection. Sometimes young
trees in the nursery are injured by
freezing.
If by "some good publication" Mr..
Stonebreaker means some paper or
magazine, l would say take The Ranch
by all means. There are other good
papers published in the Northwest
and Mr.. S. will have no trouble in
finding them. But | suppose he means
some good book on horticulture.
have another inquiry somewhat SINH
lar to this one and they both are
noted in the preceding item. The
trouble with all the books on horticul-
ture is that they are written from the
standpoint of the Eastern grower. But
conditions are so different out here
that the books do not fit the condl-
tons in the Pacific Northwest. For
instance, l was fruit grower in Iowa
and understood conditions there fairly
we'll but when l began fruit growing
in Washington I made some expensive
mistakes The Jonathan and winesap
were not profitable in Iowa, so at first
I planted but few trees of these varie-
ties in my orchards. Now l can see
my mistake and am out of pocket sew
eral thousand dollars. After. l had
set my older orchards and had quit
the nursery business l found the fol-
lowing spring that some trees were
missing. | had no trees left in the
nursery but winesaps so I filled in
with these. | now wish there had