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From the introductory: HOW TO MAKE AN ORCHARD IN BRITISH COLUMBIA CHAPTER I. CHOOSING THE LAND All present indications point to the apple as likely to be the mainstay and chief source of profit is the orchards of British Columbia. Accordingly, is these pages it is the apple which I have principally is mind. Need toe, Personal Inspection. - People, perfect strangers, write to me stating that they have bought fruit land is British Columbia, without ever having seen it, and without having any other description of it than the description furnished by the man or the company who is selling to them. How unwise a step this is needs no emphasizing. But what does need emphasizing is that it is especially foolish to buy land without seeing it in British Columbia, because of the mountainous character of the country. Owing to the irregular nature of the surface, the soil is apt to vary a good deal, even within short distances. One acre may be perfectly ideal soil for fruit-growing - red, sandy loam with a clay subsoil at a sufficient depth - while the next adjacent acre, or even part of an acre, may consist of an accumulation of rock fragments; or it may be hard-pan - that is, indurated and impervious semi-cemented clay - in which no Living plant of any kind can exist; or, again, it may be a bed of dry shingle or arid sand, equally alike useless for fruit-growing. Fruit land ia any part of the world should be selected only after a personal inspection, or obtaining disinterested expert advice, and in British Columbia this is especially imperative. Air Drainage. - It is imperative, not only because of the varying character of the soil at short distances apart, but also because of other reasons arising out of the geo- graphical configuration of the surface. Orchard trees will not thrive unless the air is able to circulate freely amongst them. This is a condition which, in a mountainous country like British Columbia, where the valleys are frequently narrow and often long, is a matter of the very utmost importance. Trees planted in such a position win not grow and thrive anything like so well as trees planted in a more open situation, where the breezes of heaven have free, unhampered access to them. But the chief danger to fruit-trees planted in such wind- gtiU localities becomes specially active on the frosty mornings of spring. In such unduly sheltered spots the frost is apt to hang about the trees and cling to the tender, newly opened foliage, or even to the blossoms, until the sun's rays smite upon it and burn the young leaves or the blossoms irreparably. These frost pockets, as they are called, must by all means be avoided. And the best way to avoid them is to select a situation for your orchard in which, owing to the conformation of the surrounding country, a free circulation of the air will at all times prevail naturally. Air drainage is as essential to the foliage of fruit-trees as soil drainage is to their roots....

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