222 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



irrigation is the saving of two crops. Some idea of the amount of 

 water used can be had from the chapter on irrigation. The follow- 

 ing account by Mr. Neff applies to this practice in Orange County, 

 which is an average situation as to rainfall and atmospheric humid- 

 ity, and is as good a general statement as could be made : 



If rains are copious, winter irrigation may be dispensed ^with during the 

 first two or three years after planting the orchard, but when the trees reach 

 the age of bearing fruit the rain water should be supplemented by irrigation 

 water until the soil is thoroughly wet 5 feet deep, and in order to do this, at 

 least 20 inches of water, including rainfall, must be put on the land. Three 

 irrigations should be given the trees during the first summer, but it is not 

 necessary to wet more than a strip 5 or 6 feet wide along the tree rows. The 

 orchard should have three irrigations during the second summer and a strip 

 12 feet wide should be watered, as the roots are reaching farther and the trees 

 require a greater amount of water. The irrigation for the first two years 

 should always be done before the trees show any want of water, so as to 

 keep them going vigorously. 



All the space between the trees should be watered the third year and 

 afterward; but two irrigations will be sufficient for the summer. The best 

 time for the summer irrigation of bearing apricot trees is when the fruit 

 is about half grown, which is usually about the second or third week in May. 



If well watered at this time the fruit grows to its largest, and has time 

 to ripen slowly as the ground gradually dries, until it has all the sugar 

 which will go into the fruit. An orchard in full bearing that has been well 

 watered in the winter should now have as much as full 100 inches of water 

 for two hours on each acre (equal to four acre-inches). 



The second irrigation should be given as soon as possible after the sum- 

 mer pruning is done, in order to start the trees growing and develop the 

 fruit buds for the next year. This will not require so much water as the 

 irrigation in May, but ought to be as much as 100 inches of water for one 

 hour on each acre. 



Winter irrigation of apricots on deep soils, as supplementary to 

 rainfall and largely reducing summer irrigation, is a very satisfac- 

 tory recourse in some districts. 



DISEASES OF THE APRICOT 



Though the apricot tree, as has been said, is regarded as one of 

 the healthiest fruit trees, it is subject to some maladies. Trees perish 

 from being set in unsuitable situations, and in these cases, if the evil 

 be stagnant water in soil, or penetration to alkaline subsoil, the 

 root shows it. Sometimes, however, a branch or a whole tree withers 

 and dies without apparent cause early in the summer, and while the 

 root is still sound. The disease is evidently acute, but its cause is 

 not known, nor a remedy proposed. It is an old trouble of the 

 apricot, and not peculiar to California. Such dying branches should 

 be cleanly cut away. 



The so-called "gum disease" sometimes causes injury to trees. 

 Some forms of gumming have recently demonstrated to be due to 

 bacterial invasion. When gumming spots appear on the bark the 

 best treatment is to cut away the diseased bark down to healthy 

 wood during the dormant season and cover the wound with asphal- 

 tum or common lead and oil paint, putting on sparingly so as not 

 to flow over healthy bark. 



