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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



if the rising shoots are continually cut under the surface, and never 

 allowed to get the light, it will kill the plant surely, but it may take 

 two seasons to do it. Weed-cutting knives of this description are 

 often contrived by local smiths and are attached to sleds or fitted 

 with plow handles, or used with a pair of thills and cultivator handles 

 or other rigging as the operator may choose. The vital point is a 

 blade of sheet steel, very sharp and rigged to run just under the sur- 

 face. These home-made devices are, however, largely displaced by 

 implements of various sizes (for team or tractor), with flat, short 

 teeth. They must be used as often as once each week during the 

 growing season of the plant to be destroyed. 



I MULCHING A SUBSTITUTE FOR CULTIVATION 



The use of a mulch or covering of the ground with a litter of light 

 materials to prevent evaporation, is practised to a small extent in 

 this State. Though mainly used for berries of different kinds, re- 

 course has also been had to mulching by vineyardists. The materials 

 used are various, such as partly-rotted straw, coarse manure, dam- 

 aged hay, corn-husks, corn-stalks, vine prunings and leaves, and 

 even fine brush from adjacent thickets. The practice has been found 

 of greatest value on hillsides where cultivation is difficult, and dan- 

 ger of washing of loose soil is great. There are cases where vines have 

 been grown several years in this way to the satisfaction of the 

 owner. The danger of fire in our dry climate when the surface is 

 covered to a depth of several inches with a dry mulch is considerable. 

 As a rule, the mulch employed by the California grower is a per- 

 fect pulverization of the surface soil. 



