CULTIVATORS AS SUBSTITUTE FOR PLOWS 137 



for the new-comer. In addition to the excellent implements brought 

 from the Eastern 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 in- 

 ventive genius in the form of implements of tillage. 



The secret of success in handling the heavier soils in spring work- 

 ing is to secure as perfect surface pulverization as possible without 

 compacting 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 accomplishes 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 cause. 



CULTIVATION WITHOUT PLOWING 



There are some 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 me- 

 chanical 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 differ- 

 ence 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 be, and whatever the 

 special nature of their soils, there are fruit growers, both in northern 

 and southern California, who have for years trusted almost wholly 

 to the cultivator, cutting to a depth of 3 or 4 inches, and keeping 

 their orchards throughout the year almost in the same state of tilth, 

 never allowing a weed to grow. This practice is, however, becoming 

 less prevalent, and for certain soils the question is practically settled 

 in the minds of nearly all orchardists, while for other soils there is 

 still doubt. For the heavier soils, which continuous shallow cultiva- 



