172 CALIFORNIA FRUITS I HOW TO GROW THEM 



deep; for this I use a 7-foot cultivator and four horses. Near the trunk of 

 the tree I work about two inches deep and a little farther away 4 inches deep, 

 using the three-cornered orchard plow with a cultivator 4 feet wide and two 

 horses. 



Irrigation by Large Furrows Without Summer Cultivation. An 



exception to the continuous cultivation of orchard ground which is 

 prevalent in the irrigated regions of the Pacific Coast is found in the 

 foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California, where furrows are made 

 at the beginning of each irrigating season and used continuously during 

 that summer. The ensuing winter plowing and early spring cultivation 

 are relied upon to keep the soil in good condition. Although this con- 

 stitutes an exception and the practice is widely followed for what seems 

 to the growers of the region to be a good and sufficient reason, it does 

 not militate against the truth of the continuous summer cultivation 

 policy which elsewhere prevails, nor does it follow that this policy 

 would not be better in some respects even in the region where it is 

 abandoned. It is a district of very large water supply, and the arrange- 

 ments of the water company are such that the grower must pay for a 

 certain number of inches of water by the year, and is entitled to this 

 amount of continuous flow. He has to use it or neglect it as it flows, 

 and can not get more at one time by not using it at another. For this 

 reason he has not the motive for close observation which prevails under 

 other conditions, and to escape the cost of summer cultivation and fresh 

 furrowing out he has recourse to frequent flows in the old furrows. 

 The following interesting account of the prevailing method was pre- 

 pared by Mr. W. R. Fountain, of Newcastle : 



Water is supplied almost exclusively by one company, which has met require- 

 ments up to date, and seems fixed to supply in excess of demand. It is supplied 

 by the miner's inch ; price $45 per inch per season for a constant supply. The 

 inch is measured under 6-inch pressure. 



Beginning May 1st, five months is called the irrigating season, but the pur- 

 chaser can have the water twelve months per annum if he wants it. The 

 water company collects monthly. The purchaser cannot start the season with 

 little and increase at pleasure, except upon payment for the full season on the 

 basis of the largest amount used at any time. 



With this constant supply we use it constantly, piping to high points and 

 moving it from place to place. When no fruit is ripening it is attempted to 

 water a block of trees in twenty-four hours. The water is not checked back, 

 but is run in ditches, mostly in one, but occasionally in two, along each row of 

 trees or vines. When a variety of fruit is rioening more water is given the 

 trees, while after a variety is picked and before any other is nearly ripe the 

 effort is made to water each tree every ten or twelve days. Level land and low 

 spots stand a good chance, as a rule, to get too much water, and a larger stream 

 is used per row to force the water through quickly. Then it is taken off in a 

 shorter time than it would be where the trees are on a side-hill and have a good 

 drainage. 



About 1 inch for each 8 acres is generally used. This is for deciduous fruits. 

 The citrus fruits and berries require watering about once a week ; if there is 

 good drainage they would prosoer if watered every three days. In such ground 

 I have not heard of their getting either too much water or too much fertilizer. 

 The general practice is to plow, cross plow, and then after each rain cultivate, 

 with no cultivation whatever after beginning the use of water. I think an 

 occasional cultivation after watering would help. 



There is a tendency for the ditches to become packed after water has been 

 flowing through them for some time, in which case but little water soaks into 

 the ground. When this occurs I dig a pot hole in the ditch to allow the water to 



