OF SO VTHEBN CALIFORNIA . 473 



sity of irrigation, the objects to be accomplished, the methods in 

 Riverside, and the benetiis. 



As to the necessity, no one who knows Riverside will deny that 

 irrigation is a necessity. We have a peculiar soil and climate. The 

 soil in Riverside is never wet down bj^ natural moisture more than 

 two or three feet, even in the wettest season, and out of eight crops of 

 grain I haye seen in Riverside, but two were really worth harvesting. 

 Then our atmosphere is so dry that for many months in the year we 

 have practically no dew, and although our sea breeze has a very cool- 

 ing etfect on the human and animal kingdoms, it has a very desiccat- 

 ing effect on the vegetable. The object, then, of irrigation is to supply 

 that moisture to the vegetable kingdom which is lacking in the soil 

 and atmosphere. Our almost perpetual sunshine also enables us to 

 grow crops much oftener in the course of the year, as well as to grow 

 them much larger and finer in quality. 



Our method in Riverside is very nearly allied to the sub-irrigation 

 system, and where water is plenty and money scarce our Riverside 

 system is the most available. On all well regulated fruit orchards 

 here it will be to the interest of proprietors to keep ditches in first 

 class order, as it economizes water and labor, besides looking much 

 better. The usual and best plan here is to have all distributing 

 ditches terraced with rock or lumber, so that there shall be no 

 washing out, but that the ditcli shall always be kept at the same 

 level witli the same amount of water. Then as the ditch passes each 

 row of trees, boards are inserted in the side of the ditch with as many 

 auger holes as may be necessary to carry the water through the 

 orchard row in, say, 10 or 12 hours, letting as little run afterward as 

 will just run through without any waste. Having previously run 

 furrows with the plow, it will be found that 24 hours' run of water 

 will wet the ground thoroughly for two or three feet on each side of 

 the furrow, the number of furrows being kept proportioned to the 

 size of the trees, small trees requiring only one furrow on each side. 

 After irrigating, a thorough cultivating of the soil, as soon as it is in 

 proper condition to do so, will both tend to keep the soil damp much 

 longer as well as to give the trees the full benefit of a thorough per- 

 meation of the atmosphere through the soil. Strange as it may seem, 

 after your soil has been well irrigated, plowed, and cultivated, you can 

 run water on it and dry it out much quicker than if you had not 

 run it; and nothing can be more annoying than to have your neigh- 

 bor flood you with water just after you have gotten your place in 

 nice order. 



As to tlie benefits of irrigation, there is not time here to enumerate 

 a tithe of them. We claim that we can raise more fruit and of a finer 

 quality by irrigation in connection with judicious cultivation, and I 

 think facts will bear me out in that assertion. I need only refer you 

 to some of our fruits in this building as part confirmation of what I 

 say. A country where irrigation is practiced will always have a 

 dense population. We have no need here of hundreds or thousands 

 of acres to support a single family, but our five, ten, fifteen, or twenty 

 acres are amply sufficient to supply not only the necessaries, but also 

 the luxuries of life. Our dense population will also in time give us 

 the benefits of the country with all the privileges of the town. Irri- 

 gation, more particularly in connection with fruit growing, demands 

 more skill in the cultivator of the soil, thus requiring a more intel- 

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