62 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



It is not always possible to find an ideal nursery spot on every 

 ranch, but still trees may be well grown on less favorable places if 

 attention is given to correcting natural defects. For example, if the 

 soil be naturally heavy, it may be improved somewhat by repeated 

 plowing and cultivation, during the year before starting the trees. 

 If it be an adobe, its mechanical condition may be greatly improve< 

 by the application of a top dressing of lime at the rate of six hun( 

 dred to one thousand pounds of lime to the acre. For this purpose 

 "lime waste," which contains both lime and wood ashes, can be had? 

 cheaply at the kilns. Old plaster which may have been left fromj 

 house repairs is excellent. Even builders' lime would not be ver 

 expensive, for but little would be required for so small a plot oi 

 land as a farm nursery would need to cover. The lime will increase, 

 the availability of plant food in a heavy soil as well as render it^ 

 more friable. Heavy soil may also be improved by the addition of 

 sand. A few loads of sand will remove the tendency to crack, and 

 will act as a mulch to prevent evaporation of moisture. If the soil 

 be very loose and subject to too rapid drying out, the remedy will 

 be moderate irrigation during the summer, but it should cease early 

 enough to allow the young trees to ripen their wood before the 

 frosts of autumn. Mulches of various light, fine materials, rotted 

 straw and the like, may be used to advantage among the young 

 seedlings in preventing drying out of the soil, if the plot is to be 

 hand-worked, but such materials are apt to be in the way of neat, 

 thorough work with the horse. A mulch of sand is not open to this 

 objection. 



Land which has been in cultivation for garden or field crops is 

 to be preferred over a newly-cleared land. It is often the case that 

 soil from which old stumps or shoots have recently been removed 

 has become soured from the process of decay in the dead wood. 

 Although the organic matter from decay of woody fiber tends to 

 enrich the soil afterwards, certain acids are formed if the land lies 

 without cultivation. These are not favorable to the growth of young 

 roots. This evil quality in the soil is removed by cultivation and 

 aeration, or may be corrected by the application of lime. This state 

 of soil is most complained of in connection with old stumps and 

 roots of oak trees. 



Situation and Exposure. Warmth in the soil is necessary to a-* 

 good growth, and a good year's growth is essential to the production*., 

 of a satisfactory tree. Drainage contributes notably to the warmth^ 

 of the soil. Exposure is also of importance. Plenty of sunshine and- 

 protection from cold winds are to be secured. Sometimes a little- 

 elevation is desirable. It would be a serious mistake to seek moist^ 

 low land if the piece lies at the bottom of a little valley or depres* 

 sion where the cold air settles during the night and frosts are fre-- 

 quent. In such cases choose higher ground. Of course, in broad^ 

 open valleys there is not this objection, for such seasonable frosts 

 as may be expected there are not injurious to deciduous nursery^ 

 stock. The greatest nurseries in the State are in the open valleys, 

 not on the lowest ground, however, in all cases, but on what would 



