THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 515 



course the possibility of improving the orchards now bearing is the 

 immediate, important result of the investigation, but the possibility of 

 building new orchards with the assurance that they will not have to be 

 rebuilt, is an even greater acquisition from the investigation. 



APPLICATION OF WATER. 



I can not think the best manner of applying water has yet been 

 devised. You are familiar with the results of the Federal department's 

 exhaustive tests, showing that but about 25 per cent of the water pro- 

 vided for irrigation actually serves its purpose. Of course but part of 

 the 75 per cent loss occurs in the orchards, but the furrow system, we 

 know, is exceedingly wasteful. The evaporation from water while 

 running from the saturated surface after the water is off, and the entire 

 loss from the few inches of surface afterwards turned up to protect 

 that below, leave but a fraction of the amount applied for actual 

 service. Whether we are to learn a practical lesson from the natural 

 mulching in forests, where there is such tremendous growth indefinitely 

 sustained, is yet to be shown. The Chases of the National Orange Com- 

 pany of Riverside are now experimenting on several hundred acres with 

 artificial mulching, and Dr. Webber is experimenting on small plots. 

 If practical mulching is found successful the saving in water and labor 

 in cultivation will go a long way toward lessening cost of production. 



TRACTION POWER. 



I believe the time is near when the leading orchard expense — the 

 traction power required for manipulating the soil and moving material 

 and product — is to be largely reduced by the use of the modern motor, 

 which has already revolutionized traction service on the roads by 

 replacing animal power. The motor is now being used successfully in 

 orchards of large areas. Mr. Ford's proposition to produce a power at 

 the cost of a good horse, making it economical for small growers, merits 

 attention, because of his wonderfully successful practical achievements 

 in other directions. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



I offer only these few considerations among the many that bear 

 directly on the subject, but as I see it, these alone are quite sufficient 

 to promise a prosperous future for the great orange industry. 



