Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1909-01-29
Institute
Continued from page A.


a student. 1t is necessary to get good
advice on varities, and one must
know irrigation methods; one must
also know something OF the insecf
enimies that menace the orchard
And one must consider the object to
be attained by the orchard-wheth-
er it is for commercial purposes, or
for the family.
If you are starting in on com
mercial orchard without previous
commercial orchard experience Won
will probably try to plant to- much
Ten acres is enough for any beginner,
er.
1.-THE selection Of Il site /. most
important. A place with the mini
mum of spring frosts is necessary.
The lowest lands are not best, as the
cold air drifts down from the little
hills into the lowest land, and land
SO 0 100 feet above its surround
Ings is likely to be the safest An
east or northeast slope is likely to be
the richest The soil should not be
less than three feet deep, and well
drained though some success has
been had with deep sub-soiling in
hard pan, or in breaking up the
strata with dynamite. Land with
water table to 4 feet deep is about
right. Tile draining will help land
that is too moist, carrying away the
excess water and the alkali salts.
Some orchards are put in direct
ly on sage brush land. 1t is better
however, to have the land plowed in
the fall, and plant the trees in the
spring. One-year-old stock should be
set out, as the nursery men are apt
to prune up their two year trees, to
make them look symetrical, and this
gives them too high head The
trees may need some shade, the
first year, to protect them from sun
scald. The trees can be pruned af-
ter planting, when they should hard
ly be less than 33 feet apart each
way. You can figure that any tree
will have a root sysem more extern
sive than its top and you know that
a good fruit tree will in a few years
have a top 80 feet or more broad.
This should be the general rule for
tree planting the width of
the fully matured top.
Some plant filters of more short
lived trees, or even trees of the |
same variety as the main orchard,
but the temptation is always to let
them stand too long, to the harm of
the others. But the land can be |
cultivated, for potatoes, small fruits
or garden. Red raspberries and |
blackberries are not the best to use
in an orchard, as they propagate |
from underground runners, and it is !
hard to keep them where you want
them. The orchard should be plow
ed every spring.
For varieties, it will be safe to
at least try any of the apples you
may have a particular prediction
for. They are likely to do quite well
here, wherever they come from, you
will have to test that for yourselves.
Better on a small scale at first. In
the Boise-Payette country, the
Grimes Golden, Idaho Jonathan and
Rome Beauty are known as especi-
ally fine, and they should do well
here. For a commercial orchard,
however, | should put main depend
ence upon the Mcintosh Red, Veal
thy and Wagner, in this section. For
a home orchard, where one wants
variety there are a good many varie-
ties that can be planted with reason
able hope of success. Among them
arr the Duchess of Oldenburg, E,r-
Iy Harvest, Yellow Transparent, Red
June, Beoni, Chenango Stra vberrs.
Wealthy, Maiden Blush, Jeffries-
fine varieties that you
would -Gravnstein, Mcintosh
Delicious, Bellefower,
Ben. Davis and Rawles' Janet.
For peaches try the Triumph,
Champion and Indian Cling. If !.
hese are set out on a good north
II east slope, they should do well.
For plums, the DeSoto and Lom-
,ard varieties ought to be fine. The
Italian prunes also should do well,
f any prunes are adapted for his
ection.
Orchards should be planted with
wo rows of kind of trees, followed
v two rows of another kind to cross
ollenize as well as for convenience
4 spraying AS the different varie-
les at slightly different times, it is
onvenient to be able to spray from
9th sides of the wagon, and have
ne two rows of the same kind ready :;
,r spraying at the same time. h
1T is best, if possible, to raise at
4 x.frx