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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



beams are bent to stand 6 inches forward of a square placed on top 

 of the beams. The braces are of ^-inch round iron. The shovel is 

 slightly cupped to make it hold more earth. 



The Portable Gate or Tappoon. These are for shutting ditches, 

 and are made of No. 16 sheet-iron 2 feet wide and of any desired 

 length, but usually 3 feet, 4 feet or 5 feet long. The corners are cut 

 off to a circle, starting about 1 foot back of the corner. The handles 

 are made of 2 pieces of 1 by 3-inch pine, 12 inches longer than the 

 gate, and are placed one on each side of the sheet iron and secured 

 by %-inch bolts. 



The Combined Check and Furrow Method. An effort to escape 

 in some measure the puddling of the surface which results from 

 allowing water to sink away upon finely pulverized soil, lies in the 

 direction of breaking up the soil roughly in the bottoms of the 

 checks, which facilitates the quick passage of the water into the 

 subsoil. This is done by running a small plow or three large culti- 

 vator teeth attached to a single frame before the ridger is used to 

 form the levees. Mr. A. D. Bishop of Orange County, California, 

 uses a combined furrow and check system, as shown in the accom- 

 panying diagram. He furrows the land first with a three-tooth 

 furrower at right angles to the direction in which the water is to 

 flow, and then uses the ridger to make levees in line with the water, 

 laying out the work so as to get the closest approximation to a level. 

 When the levees are made, the jump scraper is used and the end of 

 each third or fourth furrow bank is connected with the levees at 

 alternating sides of the check made by the levees. This causes the 

 water to flow through the furrows from side to side and distribute 

 itself evenly over the whole ground. The number of furrows which 

 can be passed before connecting with the bank depends upon the 

 slope of the land the nearer level the land the greater the distance 

 that can be left between the connections, and vice versa. In this 

 way the water is taken slowly down a grade where it would flow 

 too rapidly were it admitted to furrows in the direction of its flow. 



Another combination of the check and furrow system is found 

 where the lowest spaces of a slope irrigated by furrows are laid off 

 in checks to catch the overflow from the furrows and compel its 

 percolation at a point which would otherwise receive too little water. 

 The parts of a furrow system which lie farthest from the source of 

 supply are obviously least supplied, because long flow can not be 

 maintained there without much loss from overflow. Holding the 

 water in checks at the lower end usually for two rows of trees 

 is quite a help toward even distribution. 



The Basin System. The term basin should be restricted to in- 

 closures which do not aim at covering the whole surface, but only 

 a smaller area immediately surrounding the tree. The check system 

 is clearly a more rational and perfect method of flooding. When 

 basins were used on ground capable of irrigation by the check or 

 furrow systems, it was probably due to a misconception which has 

 prevailed also in the practice of fertilization, that the tree derived 

 its chief benefit from the soil immediately surrounding and beneath 



