Holbrook argus., 1908-06-02
STARTING ORCHARDS.
Poor Orchard Comes from Neglect at
 the Start.

orchard. To get the young orchard started right is important. The av- craze man justly feels that he must econoniZe in starting the young or chard, and too often economy leads to neglect. Though the process of rear , ing the orchard to a productive stage 1 is an expensive one, it is worth doing we'll The buying of poor trees, care less D, eparation of the land for plant i 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-
 
 ing. Ii the raw land must be set, it should be carefully prepared before planting. As rule, the sandier soils should be thoroughly watered before an attempt is made to level them. Very ofter the higher spots settle most, and if these knolls are pulled off 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 prepara- ticn of the land. Often the land is thoroughly watered before it is plowed When ready for the blow, it 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 poorly leveled piece of land. Leveling after the trees ale set is unsatisfactory and the or chard set on half-leveled land soon shows lack of uniformity which it re quireS 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 satis factory upon which to set young trees If the land has been well watered, il is uniformly moist, will require the minimum amount of water to start tho young trees, and all danger from flu ture setting is obviated. However this land will suffer quicker from over watering than the raw land. Int amount of moisture already in the sub soil retards the recovery from over watering.
 There is one precaution to be takel in the preparation of all land fo planting to young trees. The earlie 1t can be done the better. The lam piowed ill the late spring takes wate too freely and the young trees oftel suffer from overwatering. The uppe part of the soil becomes saturate with water and drives out the ai and smothers the roots of the youn trees. To avoid this difficulty the Ian should be prepared early and tho oughly worked down or settled wit frequent winter and early spring cult vations. This is especially necessar in the case of alfalfa land which is to planted to young trees. The disc ha row and smoothing harrow are sati I,i