Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1908-01-03
ESTABLISHING AN ORCHARD
An Excellent Article by G. L.
Lewis, Professor of Horticul-
ture, o. A. c.

our orchards the past few years
have given great impetus to
fruit growing, and as result
many people are setting out Or
chards. To a large number OF
these persons fruit growing is a
new occupation and they are
seeking information to aid them
in establishing their orchards.
As regards the time to set the.
trees, from October to February
or March is generally preferable
where climatic conditions are
such as to allow one to carry on
the work. Trees set at this time
become we'll established iu early
spring and are ready to begin
growth in April. In irrigated
sections, or at high elevations,
where there, is danger of fall
freezing, planting can be de-
layed until spring.
The kind of soil is a question
of Importance; and in speaking
of soil we consider both the phys
ical and the chemical. The
physical is, perhaps the more
important in that its conditions
are hard to change, while often
in the chemical we can supply
lacking plaLt foods. Often the
grower expects the chemist to
analyze a small sample of his
soil and tell him what it needs.
The chemist can tell if certain
elements are deficient, but he
cannot tell whether those present
are in an available form, and the
grower is therefore forced to try
experiments.
AS far as the physical charac-
tiers of soil are concerned, apples
in our climate prefer clay loan,
necessarily heavy clay,
but a clay loan is apt to retain
moisture and food such as apples
need. Pears will grow on SINH
lar soils to apples or even heav'er
soil. Cherries aud prunes prefer
the lighter loans, such as many
OF the red hill lands, especially
where the soil is deep. Peaches
do we'll on granitic, sandy soils;
while grapes prefer the sunny
southeast slopes, especially
those which are deep and con-
tain more or less stony sub-soil.
The main requirement with the
walnut seems to be deep soil.
Attention should be paid to
the sub-soil. Those soils having
a hardpan near the surface, a
cement gravel, or a loose gravel
that does not reach a water sup
ply should be avoided. In many
parts of Western Oregon the allu.
vial soils that have BEEN washed
in by the rivers, though often
appearing light in character are
often among our best fruit soils,
being rich and deep and gener-
ally furnished with plenty of
moisture. East of the noun
tains the rich volcanic soils when
furnished with humus and given
plenty of water will grow most
any of our fruits.
Other things being equal, the
higher elevations and slopes are
to be preferred. They are apt
to be better drained, more free
from frosts, and often seem to
produce fruit of better color.
Having chosen your land, the
next step is to prepare it. II
this is OLD wheat land it should
be thoroughly plowed and har'
rowed and where possible stable
should be added. On
many of the newly irrigated
lands it is often better to irrlgate
a season or two, growing some
plant to supply humus, before
planting the orchard. On many
of the stump lands holes caa be
dug tor the trees and the land
as rapidly as possible.
By the time the trees need the
intense cultivation over a large
su. ace the stumps will have been
removed.
The question of varieties is
difficult one to settle. Certain
localities of our state have already
determined this but TO those 10
calities where commercial or
chards have not as yet been de-