Productive orcharding, modern methods of growing and marketing fruit . an up-hill matter with eithervery heavy or very light soils. The catch crop intended to plowin simply will not grow. And one has a chance to exercise a lotof ingenuity and patience to get things started right. And thesoil which requires all this is not as good an orchard soil byjust so much as the one which is already in shape. The impor-tance of plenty of humus in an orchard soil is only beginningto be realized. WATER DRAINAGE 11 h. Subsoil.—Under this head there are two main points to beconsidered: First, the ease of pene
Productive orcharding, modern methods of growing and marketing fruit . an up-hill matter with eithervery heavy or very light soils. The catch crop intended to plowin simply will not grow. And one has a chance to exercise a lotof ingenuity and patience to get things started right. And thesoil which requires all this is not as good an orchard soil byjust so much as the one which is already in shape. The impor-tance of plenty of humus in an orchard soil is only beginningto be realized. WATER DRAINAGE 11 h. Subsoil.—Under this head there are two main points to beconsidered: First, the ease of penetration by the roots of thetrees, and, second, the fertility of the soil. Lands with impervioussubsoils are not satisfactory for any fruits, and a good, medium,gravelly subsoil is more fertile than a pure sand. A good subsoilis a very important part of the orchard equipment. In the firstplace a large part of the root system is in the subsoil, and in thesecond place it is very difficult to improve a subsoil. Drainageis about the only thing to which one can Fig. 4.—A good orchard country. Rolling land that gives good water drainage and atmospheric drainage. B. Water Drainage.—The score card divides this into surfaceand sub-drainage. In reference to the surface we have to con-sider whether there is enough, so that the water will not stand onthe land. Even in winter standing water is objectionable (). Second, is there too much surface drainage so that the landis subject to washing ? By washing, both soluble plant food andactual soil are lost. In times of drouth, the water from a chanceshower will run off before it can soak in. A sharp slope on lightlands is almost sure to suffer more from drouth than the more 12 ORCHARD LANDS level lands near by, simply because the water does not have timeto soak in. Sub-drainage.—Here again it is a question of amount. Isthere too little, just enough, or too much ? Trees will seldom dowell in a wet subsoil. The growth is poor
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectfruitculture, bookyea
