136 CALIFORNIA FRUITS : HOW TO GROW THEM 



and to level the surface as much as possible. This is done by harrowing 

 with one of the several improved harrows which are now generally in- 

 troduced and found very effective. They act in cultivating, clod crush- 

 ing, and leveling, in a most satisfactory manner. They are too well 

 known to need description. Each has its advocates and its adaptations 

 to certain soils. As with plows, so with harrows and cultivators, the 

 best for one soil may not be the best for another, and local inquiry 

 among experienced fruit growers will be the best guide for the new- 

 comer. In addition to the excellent implements brought from the East- 

 ern States, there are others of California invention and manufacture 

 which have very marked local adaptations, and almost every fruit 

 region in California has some embodiment of local inventive genius in 

 the form of implements of tillage. 



The secret of success in handling the heavier soils in spring working 

 is to secure as perfect surface pulverization as possible without com- 

 pacting the soil. Light soils need a certain amount of firming after 

 plowing, or else there is too free access of air and too great drying out. 

 For these and other reasons, the grower has to study his soil and learn 

 from observation the methods which succeed best with it. The practice 

 which gave success under certain conditions might not be well adapted 

 under other conditions. The use of the roller is a striking example of 

 this fact. In some orchards the roller is a benefit, in others a decided 

 injury. Its chief effect is compacting the surface layer, which is only 

 desirable on very coarse open soils. The long-tooth harrow accom- 

 plishes a very marked compacting of the soil to the depth it reaches, 

 and often settles the lower layer too closely and causes it to run together 

 too solidly if rain follows. The modern cultivators, clod-crushers, disk- 

 harrows, etc., are superior in effect, each in the soil to which its action 

 is most desirable. 



After working down the soil after plowing, the cultivator is relied 

 upon to kill the weeds, break up the crust which may form after spring 

 rains or after irrigation, and to prevent the compacting of the surface 

 layer of the soil from any causes. 



CULTIVATION WITHOUT PLOWING 



There are orchards in California which have not been plowed for 

 years in some cases the plow has not been used since the trees were 

 planted. Instances of this kind are to be found both in irrigated and 

 unirrigated land. It depends largely upon the mechanical condition 

 and disposition of the soil whether the practice will give satisfactory 

 results. It can not be trusted on land prone to develop hardpan, as has 

 already been considered, and yet the term "cultivation" has taken such 

 a wide range in this State, and the tools have reached such efficiency, 

 that there is not as much difference as formerly between the plow and 

 the cultivator, except that the former turns the soil and the latter stirs 

 without turning. For some who oppose the .use of the plow, use a 

 chisel-tooth cultivator, cutting to a depth of eight inches in the spring, 

 but at other times of the year they are not more than half as deep. 

 This treatment would tend to dispose of hardpan. However this may 



