Читать книгу How to Make an Orchard in British Columbia - John Thomas Bealby - Страница 3
ОглавлениеCHOOSING THE LAND
All present indications point to the apple as likely to be the mainstay and chief source of profit in the orchards of British Columbia. Accordingly, in these pages it is the apple which I have principally in mind.
Need for Personal Inspection.—People, perfect strangers, write to me stating that they have bought fruit land in 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 hardpan—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 in 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 geographical 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 will 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-still” 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.
The point I am endeavouring to elucidate may be crystallized in the two following pieces of advice: (1) Don’t make an orchard on the bottom of a valley or on a dead flat, and this last applies to a dead flat on a bench or other high ground equally as to a flat in the bottom of a valley. (2) Choose for your orchard land that lies on a gentle slope. The slope must not be too steep. Not that trees will not grow on a steep slope; for they will, and do. But it is then not so easy to get at them to prune them, spray them, cultivate them, and gather the fruit. The objection to a slope which is too steep is that, when the snows begin to melt in the spring, the water tends to wash or leach off the rich surface soil; and this danger becomes accentuated after the wild surface vegetation has been removed by clearing and cultivation. Again, if the slope is too steep, you will find it difficult—maybe altogether impracticable—to give that amount of cultivation to your fruit-trees which they require, unless, indeed, your orchard is so small that you are able to do all your cultivation by hand labour. Even a gentle slope, provided the surrounding geographical features are not altogether adverse, will generally of itself secure you an efficient air drainage, and thus give you one of the essential conditions of an ideal orchard site. On the other hand, in Colorado the safest situation for an orchard is often the entrance to the deep canons, up and down which, day and night, breezes blow with great regularity; and the dangerous situations are on the higher bench lands, where the air is more stationary.
Soil Drainage.—In British Columbia, however, no condition of surface is better adapted for a successful orchard in yet another essential respect—namely, soil drainage—than that given by a gentle slope. As the snows melt, which they begin to do, as a rule, soon after the middle of March, the water begins to run down the mountain-sides to the lake or river at their foot. If the slope is steep, it will flow away rapidly. If the slope is gentle, it will in most cases continue to find its way down, at a sufficiently slow rate, during the whole, or at any rate during a great part, of the summer. In this way, through the agency of the natural seepage of the winter snowfall, the roots of the fruit-trees are supplied with liquid nourishment during the whole or the greater part of their period of natural growth, and it is supplied to them, moreover, in the moderate quantities that they need. The supply is at no time in excess, so that water does not stagnate about the roots and waterlog them—a condition of things that is fatal to the successful growth and successful yield of orchard trees.
Aspect.—As regards aspect, some orchardists of experience recommend a slope facing the north-west as being the ideal aspect for an orchard. Now, while it is true that there do exist good reasons for believing that this conclusion is correct, nevertheless it is manifestly impossible for all orchards to have a north-west aspect. A large proportion must of necessity face in other directions. I may say, summarily, so far as my experience and observations go, it does not really matter very much in what direction your orchard faces. The advantages and disadvantages of each aspect in turn pretty nearly counterbalance one another. A southern slope, while it exposes the early opening blossoms to greater risk of injury by spring frosts, on the other hand puts a higher colour on the finished product. A northern exposure retards the opening of the blossoms, and so minimizes the danger arising from frost; but, to counterbalance this advantage, it does not secure such a high colour in the apple. Provided the orchard is so situated that no ridge or projecting shoulder or bluff of a mountain shuts out too large a proportion of the daily sunshine, any aspect will do. In British Columbia there is generally no lack of sunshine. A north-west slope is on the whole the best, but its balance of advantages does not very greatly exceed those of other aspects. There is only one direction towards which I personally would not be willing to plant an orchard, and that is on land which faces the north unsheltered. On the other hand, if land so situated is sufficiently sheltered and protected against that fierce enemy, the north wind, I would not be deterred from planting even there. Proper shelter can always be secured by planting a suitable wind-break, such as one or more rows of Norway spruce or Lombardy poplar.
Speaking generally, the most favourable districts for growing fruit are those which lie alongside a lake or a big river. The presence of a comparatively large body of water in the vicinity exercises a beneficially moderating influence upon the orchard trees, chiefly by regulating the temperature at the times of dangerous frosts.
Altitude.—If your situation is favourable in other respects, you may carry your orchard to very much greater altitudes than is generally supposed. On the northern side of the Rossland Valley, in the south-east of British Columbia—that is, on a good southern slope—orchards thrive quite successfully at altitudes of 3,500 to 3,600 feet; and in the neighbouring State of Montana (U.S.A.) apples grow with perfect satisfaction up to the altitude of 4,500 feet above sea-level. In Colorado apple orchards are eminently successful at much higher altitudes—namely, 6,000 feet and more. As a rule, the altitudes best suited for orchards in British Columbia are those which range between 1,000 feet and 3,500 feet, the lower levels being generally the more suitable.
Communications.—Growing the fruit, however important, is only one part of the business. An equally important, and in the majority of cases a much more difficult, part is that of selling the produce, the finished and ripened fruit. There is one thing which every ranch must possess if this difficulty is to be successfully overcome: it must be within fairly easy and fairly reasonable reach of a railway or a steamboat landing, or there must exist a tolerable certainty that such access will exist before the orchard reaches the bearing stage. It is also very desirable that the ranch should be within touch of a good driving or waggon road. Without it the cost of getting in domestic and other supplies is greatly increased, and the rancher is painfully hampered in his movements, and consequently to all intents and purposes is as though he were almost isolated. Men have made fortunes by settling in a remote valley, and after waiting years have taken advantage of the enhanced values that follow the advent of a railroad and sold out at a big profit. An instance occurred in 1911 in the valley of the Columbia River, between Golden and Cranbrook, in which the far-seeing and patient pioneer waited nearly twenty years for fortune to come to him. But come it did at last, and well was he rewarded for his pluck and tenacity. But a man who intends to grow—or, at any rate, to sell—fruit cannot afford to do that.
The railway is, however, only a link between the fruit-grower and the market in which he hopes to dispose of his fruit. Consequently he must study further the relative ease of access which, through the railway or lake service, he will obtain to the distant market. (See further chapter on Markets.)
Expert Advice.—On the whole, when the intending fruit-grower is in a position to afford it, it will well repay him to engage the services of an experienced grower, or other person who understands how to grow fruit in British Columbia, and is well acquainted with the climate and all the local conditions, both those which are favourable and those which are unfavourable, either to select land for him or to examine and report upon land which he has selected for himself. This expert advice can be secured at a quite moderate cost.
