CALIFORNIA CITRUS CULTURE. 31 



TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS FOR CITRUS ORCHARDS. 



By one of the most experienced and successful citrus growers of California. 



Wagon. Perhaps first of all is needed a substantial wagon with 

 strong bolster springs for hauling fruit and other miscellaneous pur- 

 poses about the place. Most orchardists prefer low wheels for con- 

 venience of handling. 



Plows. A strong 10-inch or 12-inch share plow is almost indis- 

 pensable, as is also a smaller 6-inch or 8-inch plow. The old-fashioned 

 mold-board plow with roller coulter and chain is considered a superior 

 tool for plowing under the cover crop. When properly handled, and 

 not always run at the same depth, it most effectively stirs the soil and 

 buries the green manure deep below the surface. 



The disk plow throwing one or two furrows is in very common use 

 for orchard plowing, and for handling a heavy growth of vegetation 

 it is easily operated without the annoyance of coulter and chain. It 

 is also well adapted to stony ground, though its work, even there, is 

 not the equal of mold-board plowing. Either the mold-board or disk 

 plow will require two, four or six horses, according to depth. Large 

 horses, or better, mules, are a requisite in citrus culture. 



Whether using the mold-board or disk plow it is usually necessary 

 to break out the first furrow or two next the trees or the last furrows, 

 as the case may be with the smaller walking plow drawn by a single 

 animal, or by two hitched tandem. 



Harrows. The adjustable tooth-harrow is in frequent demand for 

 following the plows on cloddy soil and for dragging over the irrigated 

 furrows in advance of the cultivator. 



The disk harrow is indispensable for use on ground covered with 

 litter of any sort. The orchard extension-disk harrow is so designed 

 that it may be operated well back under the trees when desirable, and 

 at other times altered so as to cut no more than five feet wide. When 

 extended one group of disks works under the tree while the other group 

 works out in the center of the space, leaving six feet between them to be 

 worked with another disk or to be disked later when the extension rods 

 have been removed and the two groups of disks set close together. 



Cultivator. The cultivator must be strong enough to cultivate 

 freely to a depth of ten inches when desired, and it must be so con- 

 structed that it may be operated at varying depths and forced to those 

 depths by its full weight and the proper type of shovels or chisel teeth. 



Hinged extensions on the ends of the cultivator beam are often used 

 for cultivation under low-hanging and wide-spreading trees. 



