CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



reflow of the water into the lateral. Where the orchard is piped 

 for irrigation, as has become quite common, the furrows are filled 

 from hydrants flumes and ditches being dispansed with. 



The great variety in large furrow practice is suggested in the 

 foregoing. A systematic manner of proceeding is that of Mr. A. 

 Trost, of Palermo, California, as described by himself : 



The soil is red, gravelly clay, the upper 12 inches without rocks; below 

 this the gravel is more rock. At the depth of 3 or 4 feet the red clay changes 

 into a whitish one and water enters it very slowly. My orchard is 12 acres 

 1,120 feet long from north to south and 510 feet from east to west. The 

 northeast corner is the highest. Here the water ditch enters, and I run my 

 head ditch along the east side from north to south. There are 51 rows of 

 trees in that direction, the north and south outside rows being olives. There 

 are 23 orange trees in the row from east to west and 1 olive tree on the west 

 end. All trees are 20 feet apart. I use 24 miners' inches per day for 5 days 

 in the following manner: I use 4 furrows about 5 or 6 inches deep and 

 about 3 feet apart between rows, leaving the rows nearest the trees from 5 

 to 6 feet from the trunks. The 4 lower rows on the west side I cross-furrow 

 with 2 furrows between the trees. I divide the 24 inches into 51 equal 

 streamlets by using one gate for each 4 rows. First turn this amount into 

 the furrow south nearest to tree. When the water has moved to the olive 

 tree, I divide the water between the 4 furrows for the lower 6 trees and 

 through the cross furrows. The next morning I divide the water at the 

 tenth tree for the 4 furrows. On the third day I let only one-half the water 

 go down in the furrow south of tree, the other in the one north nearest to 

 tree. On the fourth day I turn part of it in the middle furrows near the 

 head ditch, and by the fifth day I have my place equally wet from one end 

 to the other, taking care that the top soil near the trunks of trees remains 

 dry on the surface. I keep the soil around the trunks of the trees about 2 

 inches higher for a width of 3 feet. In this way I use all the water without 

 running any off, and lose only the evaporation. The whole amount of water 

 used is 120 inches, equal to 10 inches or 130,000 gallons per acre, or 4.5 acre- 

 inches, or 1,200 gallons per tree. 



I irrigate about every four weeks, running the water five days and turning 

 it on again three weeks after it is taken off. I have irrigated as early as the 

 1st of April and as late as the middle of October, depending on late rains in 

 spring and early rains in fall; usually from five to six irrigations per year. 

 After four or five days I cultivate 14 feet wide between the trees from 6 to 

 8 inches deep; for this I use a 7-foot cultivator and four horses. Near the 

 trunk of the tree I work about two inches deep and a little farther away 4 

 inches deep, using the three-cornered orchard plow with a cultivator 4 feet 

 wide and two horses. 



Irrigation by Large Furrows Without Summer Cultivation. 



An exception to the continuous cultivation of orchard ground which 

 is prevelent in the irrigated regions of the Pacific Coast is found in 

 the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California, where furrows are 

 made at the beginning of each irrigating season and used continu- 

 ously during the summer. The ensuing winter plowing and early 

 spring cultivation are relied upon to keep the soil in good condition. 

 Although this constitutes an exception and the practice is widely 

 followed for what seems to the growers of the region to be a good 

 and sufficient reason, it does not militate against the truth of the 

 continuous summer cultivation policy which elsewhere prevails, nor 

 does it follow that this policy would not be better in some respects 

 even in the region where it is abondoned. It is a district of very 

 large water supply, and the arrangements of the water company are 

 such that the grower must pay for a certain number of inches of 



