IRRIGATION OF THE APRICOT 217 



usual rainfall. In others a single winter irrigation will satisfy all the 

 needs of the tree; in others a single irrigation just after fruit picking 

 and summer pruning will carry; the tree through. It is a fact, how- 

 ever, that as the trees advance in age some supplement to the average 

 rainfall is often desirable and in dry years irrigation is the saving of 

 two crops. Some idea of the amount of water used can be had from 

 the chapter on irrigation. The following account by Mr. Neff applies 

 to this practice in Orange County, which is an average situation as to 

 rainfall and atmospheric humidity, and is as good a general statement 

 as could be made : 



If rains are copious, winter irrigation may be dispensed with during the first 

 two or three years after planting the orchard, but when the trees reach the age 

 for bearing fruit the rain water should be supplanted by irrigation water until 

 the soil is thoroughly wet 5 feet deep, and in order to have this, at least 20 inches 

 of water, including rainfall, must be put on the land. Three irrigations should be 

 given the trees during the first summer, but it is not necessary to wet more than 

 a strip 5 or 6 feet wide along the tree rows. The orchard should have three 

 irrigations during the second summer and a strip 12 feet wide should be watered, 

 as the roots are reaching farther and the trees require a greater amount of water. 

 The irrigation for the first two years should always be done before the trees 

 show any want of water, so as to keep them growing vigorously. 



All the space between the trees should be watered the third year and after- 

 ward; but two irrigations will be sufficient for the summer. The best time for 

 the summer irrigation of bearing apricot trees is when the fruit is about half 

 grown, which is usually about the second or third week in May. 



If well watered at this time the fruit grows to its largest, and has time to 

 ripen slowly as the ground gradually dries, until it has all the sugar which will 

 go into the fruit. An orchard in full bearing that has been well watered in the 

 winter should now have as much as full 100 inches of water for two hours on 

 each acre (equal to four acre-inches). 



The second irrigation should be given as soon as possible after the summer 

 pruning is done, in order to start the trees growing and develop the fruit buds 

 for the next year. This will not require so much water as the irrigation in May, 

 but ought to be as much as 100 inches of water for one hour on each acre. 



Winter irrigation of apricots on deep soils, as supplementary to 

 rainfall and largely reducing summer irrigation, is a very satisfactory 

 recourse in some districts. 



DISEASES OF THE APRICOT 



Though the apricot tree, as has been said, is regarded as one of 

 the healthiest fruit trees, it is subject to some maladies. Trees perish 

 from being set in unsuitable situations, and in these cases, if the evil 

 be stagnant water in the soil, or penetration to alkaline subsoil, the root 

 shows it. Sometimes, however, a branch or a whole tree withers and 

 dies without apparent cause early in the summer, and while the root is 

 still sound. The disease is evidently acute, but its cause is not known, 

 nor a remedy proposed. It is an old trouble of the apricot, and not 

 peculiar to California. 



The so-called "gum disease" sometimes causes injury to trees. The 

 best treatment is to cut away the diseased part down to healthy wood 

 and cover the wound with common lead and oil paint, putting on spar- 

 ingly so as not to flow over healthy bark. 



Some years certain varieties in particular are blackened at the pit 

 and rendered unsalable, but the trouble has not thus far proved serious 



