Norwich bulletin., 1914-09-10

to consider in choosing a soil. We haW no previous articles, discussed thi that without humus all orcharding vii rail-
 Hard-pan subsoils should always b The subsoils should be such nature that the root system of the tree can easily penetrate il Soils under laid with hard-pans all ways suffer from drought, and tent to hold too much water about the root of the tree during times of excessivi rainfall. The sub-soil should be sucI that the root system can develop nor. nlally and furnish a good anchoragt for the trees. Orchards underlaid witt hard-pan suTer more or less iron trees being overthrown by heavy winds.
 All orchard soils should be vel drained. No orchard tree will thrive under "wet-feet' conditions. Standins water is always objectionable, Tft drainage Is a remedy for such condi- tions. and there are few orchards in thorough tile drainage. A tile drain bears the same relation to soil mois- ture that a safety valve does to steam boiler. Grayelly subsoils should be avoided, as they allow the soil water to leach away too rapidly. thus causing not only. loss of moisture, but of plant food as well. Orchards with gravelly or sandy subsoils may grow and thrive until they come into bear ing age. but are doomed to failure as soon as tthe trees begin to endeavor to grow heavy crops.
 Air Drainage.
 Air drainage is factor in orchard location that is far tco often neglected. Air drainage is just as important as water drainage. Pockets" of dead air should always be avoided. The leaves of trees should always be bath& cd with fresh air. There is less frou-
 ble from diseases in orchards that are supplied with good air drainage. The
 trees dry off quickly after rains and
 heavy dews; fogs do not finger long
 and the danger from frost is lessened.s
 In general, orchards should not be
 located upon level lands. especially ff
 those lands are surrounded by hills
 which pour their cold air down on to
 the orchard. The rougher the sur
 rounding land, the sleeper should be
 the slope upon which the orchard Is
 located. In districts where the gen. eraI topography of the land is flat, vcrv sIis'ht sloues are all that Is neces-
 sary to take care of air drainage. An elevation of only a few feet often means crops or no crops. It Is sur- prisine how slight an elevation will ter-killing of the buds. The slope,
 protect an orchard from frost or win
 should always be great enough to
 carry off the cold afr, and care should
 be taken to see that there Is no na-
 tural obstruction at the foot of the
 the cold air or cause it to bank up and
 lie in the orchard
 Good examples of air drainage are to be found in someof the earlier peach
 orchards located in the Michigan
 peach orchard belt. The early .orchard-
 drainage. located their orchards upon. the level lands, and as a. result, these orchards suffer severely from frosts. The growers soon Rot wise" to the tituation and worked these orchards oT upon city men from Chicago, who were anxious to own peach orchards and get rich. The buyers of theset | orchards are sadder= but wiser men, and while they, may not know much, about orcharding they are thoroughly
 Direction of the Slope. The direction of the slope is of su-. preme importance in some parts Of the country, and of but little importance | in others. It may make but little diff ference with apples. and may make a great difference with peaches. The | more rugged the surrounding country and the greater the elevation. the greater the importance of the direction | of the slope. For illustration. among | the hills of northern Delaware. peach es should never be plaeed upon a southern or southeastern exposure, | while in the more level portions Of the state the direction of the slope is of | but little importance. Southern slopes are conductive of highly colored, early | ripening fruits. | slowly ripening fruit, and probably | better keeping fruit. In regions where | late spring frosts and winter-killing | of buds are a menace. always choose | a northern slope Where sun seald of !, the trunk is serious, avoid, south- | sIone is subject that needs careful study by the man who either expects | to plant or to buy an orchard
 Garden Soils. 0S l The soil of garden is often in bad l condition because it grows the same | crops year after year and there is no | good sod to blow under. In order to | produce good crops on such soils very | heavy manuring is necessary. Some | of the results of blowing under sod
 may be obtained by sowing rye, buck | wheat, rye and turnips rye and vetch, | or the like as soon as the garden
 crops are past the stage when they l need the room. Sow at the rate Of
 about bushels rye per acre with | small quantity of other seed. For very | late sowing rye alone is the only prac- | tical crop. With something to blow | In eacn year, the RarQen SOl may DC | kept up much easier and at a Hess | cost than dressing with manure at; | the rate practised by many growers | Permanent Soil Improvements. | Now is the time of year to begin to
 set down the old jobs that need to be | accomplished before another season | and as soon as the crops are harvested | they should be started
 l The drainage of land is one or the | great improvements that Is certainly paying proposition. With most other | improvements hafd the payment Is in | the pleasure and satisfaction of having l it done Land drained does not show above the ground but the increased crops quickly pay for 1t and after that | the increase is mostly profit
 Almost everybody now except In main ditches uses the tile drains. Taterals that run to the ditch are gen. orally 3 inch on moderate slope These | only cost about 1-2 cents per foot The cost of laying the tile and filling up the ditch averages about 70 to SC cents per foot. Your low land Is the best paving proposition on your farm and vou can~ot afford to let it run to wild grasses. Removal of rocks is another source cF t,-o%+ that shows uD in increased yields due to the amount of land made avnifahIe and also is beneficial as it @P