The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1908-03-04
STARTING ORCHARDS.
Poor Orchard Comes from Neglect at
the Start.

An orchard neglected while young
will, at its best, be only a second-class
orchard. To get the young orchard
started right is important. The av-
erage man justly feels that he must
economic in starting the young or
chard, and too often economy leads to
neglect. Though the process of rear
ing the orchard to productive stage
is an expensive one, 1t is worth doing
well. The buying of poor trees. care
less p, eparation of the land for plant
ing, or lack of care after planting. is
poor economy. The productive and
profitable old orchard is the one grown
well while young.
While raw land is not the most sat
isfactory upon which to set young
trees. it often seems advisable to set
on such land without previous crop
ping. The matter of breaking the
land in by some previous method of
cropping hardly seems important
enough to necessitate the loss of one
or two years growth on the young or
chard. With little additional care the
young orchard can be successfully
grown On land its first season under
water. These soils in our arid coun-
tries are dry and require careful water
ing. II the raw land must be set, it
should be carefully prepared before
planting. As rule. the sander soils
should be thoroughly watered before
an attempt is made to level them. Very
otter the higher spots settle most, and
If these knobs are pulled of before
watering the same, soil must be moved
back after settling Is complete. Wa
ter should be worked onto these high
places as the first step in the prepare
ticn Of the land. Often the land is
thoroughly watered before it is plowed
When ready for the plow, 1t should be
worked deeply and thoroughly. Some
even advocate the use of the subsoil
rlow in the space to be occupied by
the tree rows. This could surely do no
harm and may give the roots a better
chance to penetrate the subsoil.
the next step is carefully to level
tie land. The young orchard should
never be planted on a poorly leveled
piece of land. Leveling after the trees
are set is unsatisfactory and the or
chard set on haIf-leveled land soon
auires years to outgrow. Good level
ing greatly reduces the labor of water
ing and the per cent of trees lost in
setting.
Land which has been previously
farmed or cropped is the most salts
factory upon which to set young trees.
II the land has been well watered. it
n uniformly moist. will require the
minimum amount of water to start the
young trees. and all danger from flu
ture setting is obviated. However.
this land will suffer quicker from over
watering than the raw land. The
amount OF moisture already in the sub
scii retards the recovery from over
watering
There is one precaution to be taken
in the preparation of all land for
planting to young trees. The earlier
1t can be done the better. The land
Flowed i'll the late spring takes water
too freely and the young trees often
suFer from overwhelming. The upper
part of the soil becomes saturated
with water and drives out the air
and smothers the roots of the young
trees. To avoid this difficulty the land
should be prepared early and thor
oughly worked down or settled with
frequent winter and early spring Guilt
vasions. This is especially necessary
in the case of alfalfa land which is to be
planted to young trees. The disc har-
row and smoothing harrow are salts
factory tools for this work--O. B.
Whipple.