Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1910-04-06
DRY FARM ORCHARD
Many Failures in Planting Not
Fault of the Climate.
Every Farmer Can Have His Fruit
Trees, as They Will Grow Where
Almost Nothing Else Will Be-
cause Roots Go Deep.

After preparing the ground and Sc
trees through any drought that comes.
the next operation is to secure good
trees and then plant them properly.
Many failures in planting are often
credited to the climate when they
should properly be ascribed to the
nurseryman, writes E. L. Parsons in
Ranch and Range. The best trees to
plant are those that can pass the
warm spells in winter without start
ing the sap. The principal point in
planting a tree is to make good
earth connection by very thoroughly
tamping the ground above and around
the roots. A tree tamped solid will
leaf out week earlier or even a
month earlier than a tree planted in
loose earth. Damp earth should first
be thrown into the hole and the roots
be gradually filed up and tamped solid
as you go, leaving two or three inches
of loose dirt on the surface.
The trees should be planted about
four to six inches deeper than they
were in the nursery. You can tell
this by the mark on the trunk and the
graft or knob where it was budded
should be well underground least
four inches. Then If the tree should
accidentally die the sprouts will come
most likely from above the graft and
will be of the same nature as the
tree, while those that come from be-
low it will be wild stock of no value
At least two-thirds of the top of
every tree should be cut of when
planting in order that the top may
balance the root.
When the trees are received from
the nursery they should be immediate
ly heeled in, in moist dirt, and the
tops sprinkled in order to soak up and
recuperate.
The roots should never be allowed
to become dry when planting and no
water need be used in the hole ex-
cept in very dry weather
AS soon as planted cultivation
warns the soil and brings them into
leaf very quickly. and if after proper
treatment they hang fire they have
been improperly handled before ship
ment.
Shade trees should be treated in
the same manner and never planted
in holes in the hard ground
The sour, or pie, cherries are very
hardy and yield heavily and where
there is no other orchard handy the
country people will come so miles to
get them and do their own picking.
The varieties that we especially IA
vor are the Montmorency and the
Morello. Six-year-old trees planted
1S to 20 feet apart are often good for
crate and half or even two crates
of cherries in good season.
Plums should be planted 20 feet
apart and like all other fruit trees
should be headed as low as possible
to shade the trunk
Apple trees do well with plenty of
room. Forty feet is recommended
| and nothing should ever be planted
between trees in the dry orchard We
| raise the Ben Davis, Yellow Transpar-
ent Duchess. Rome Beauty, Jonathan.
StaymanWinesap Wealthy and Nc
Prune and Shippers Pride seem to be
the hardest plums.
No mistake can be made in plant
ing small fruits, for gooseberries, cur
rants, grapes and raspberries grow
wild at almost any altitude. Give
them ten feet and cultivate thorough
ly and you will have no trouble.
Il g.,
and shade trees and make for himself
beautiful home if he has a mind to.
| Trees will grow where almost
| nothing else will, for their roots go
deep and get all the moisture that
goes in.
! Plenty of good deep soil, however,
| is necessity, six feet at least. The
| exposure is not so important
Every young tree must be protected
from rabbits which like to gnaw the
bark. Buy roll of mosquito wire
screen two feet wide. This makes
pieces two feet by six inches Take
each piece and roll it round a broom
stick, then snap it on the tree, this
will cost little over cent a tree
and will last until they are too old for
| the rabbits to touch them
The weeds should all be kept out
and the orchard thoroughly cultivated
throughout the season and even once
or twice in winter will help hold the
moisture and destroy all insects that
| hibernate in the ground.
A wild plum orchard can be OBJ
tanned by planting the seeds in the
fall, two or three where the tree is
to be and then thinning to one when
they come up They will bear in about
three or four years.