The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-03-31
NEW ORCHARD PLANTING.
(By r. s. Darlington, District Hor-
,., t. 3

4 There is being an unusual amount
of interest manifested in new orchard
planting this spring, and few sug'
gestions along this line may not be
out of place at this time.
In tie first place prospective pur.
chasers of nursery stock should real
ize that there is a law governing the
sale and distribution of nursery stock
in this state This law is designed to
protect the interests of the purchaser
and the horticultural interests in gen.
eral. All nurserymen doing business
in this state are required to take out a
license and put up bond, and under
such license and bond are required to
recognize certain rules and regula-
tons, one Of which is the inspection
of all nursery stock by Washington
state Inspector A great many nur-
series. both within the state and out
side the state, are licensed to do bus
mess in this state, but occasionally a
prospective orchardist or purchaser
OF nursery stock, sends an order to
some outside nurseryman who is not
licensed to do business in this state.
The order comes but the Washington
law requires that such a shipment be
held for inspection and an inspection
fee of 10 per cent of the invoice price
be charged against the shipment Any
shipment of nursery stock, unless
accompanied by Washington state
certificate of inspection, is required
to be held by the transportation COM
pany for inspection. Close cooperation
betw cen purchaser and inspector IL
desirable. The inspection is for the
protection of the purchaser.
Care OF Nursery Stock.
Upon the arrival of shipment of
nursery stock it should be unpacked
Immediately and carefully heeled in
in moist earth in such a manner as to
prevent any drying. When ready to set
permanently in the field care should
be taken to prevent the roots from
drying until the tree is finally set in
the ground. This can be done by put
ting bundle of trees in a barrel par
TALLY filled with water. Put the barrel
on a stone boat or sled and draw
around the field as the trees are being
planted
Planting.
When the plan of set is determined
upon and the field staked according
to the plan, planting can proceed rap
idly. Holes should be dug and the
planting follow closely after so that
the soil thrown out of the hole does
not become dry before it is thrown
back. Make the hole large enough so
that the tree roots can lay naturally
without being crowded together aud
deem enough so that the ground level
will come about two inches above the
graft. All broken roots should be
trimmed to a clean cut Put a little
loose soil in the bottom of the hole,
set the trees in and throw shovel
or two full of soil. Pack the soil well
around the tree roots, by hand il nee
essary. Fill the hole about half full
and pack tightly by tramping 1t is
this stage and let it settle away be-
fore completing the filling of the hole.
Pruning.
There are two main objects in prun-
ing newly set fruit trees l. The
root system of the young trees has
This is partially offset by cutting
back the tops in order to approach
more nearly a balance between top
and root 2. The other object is to
develop strong and symmetrical
head. For the latter purpose good
deal depends upon the kind of tree,
not only the species, such as peach,
pear or apple, but, if apple, is it one
year old graft or whip, two year old
graft or a budded tree?
There has long been lot of contro-
versy as to how high fruit trees, es-
pecially apple trees, should be head
ed. When most of our older orchards
were set, low heads were fad. By
extremely low heading there is ten
dency to crowd the frame work limbs
very closely together which is not
very desirable frame. Thirty inches is
low enough to head the whip. Two
year old graft is branched tree and
usually the head is already formed,
although in some cases they are un-
satisfactorily headed, in which case
it may be necessary to cut back to one
shoot and form new head. Budded
stock is often also somewhat branch
ed, in which case it should be treated
like a two year old graft. If it is not
branched, it should be treated like
one year old graft.
Irrigation.
Newly set trees should never be al
lowed to suffer for water. 1t is there
fore necessary to run water often up
close to the young trees and hold the
moisture by cultivation.
Plan OF Setting.
The mistake has been made in near
ly all the older orchards in the dis
trict of setting the trees too close.
Where the orchards have been set in
rectangular system this can be rem
edied quite easily by taking out a por-
lion of the trees. This cannot be done
so conveniently with the diagonal or
heXagonal systems. Permanent trees
should not be closer than thirty feet
ON the square. The time will come
when they will crowd at that
Filters.
There are advantages and disad-
yantages in using a filler system.
Where a filler system is used it is
usually more desirable to have the
rather than the middle of the rect
angle. This gives wide space one
way for all kinds of orchard work,
such as spraying, hauling out fruir,
ct cetera. A convenient plan that
might be suggested for apples is 30x36