292 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



ing year after year. An even tenure of moisture 

 throughout the growing season would seem to be a 

 normal condition for success with plums. 



Prunes are becoming a great crop in many of the 

 irrigated portions of Western America, and these lo- 

 calities will some day produce a sufficiency of dried 

 fruit to drive the foreign article almost entirely out of 

 the market. The best California experience is to 

 begin the preparation of the soil for a prune orchard 

 some time previous to planting. It is desirable to 

 thoroughly and deeply plow in the fall, exposing the 

 surface to the air during the winter. Wherever there 

 is hard-pan it should be well broken up. In many in- 

 stances the soil is fertilized, and in all cases it is well 

 stirred and evenly harrowed. The proper preparation 

 of the soil is a matter of much care and study. The 

 square system is generally preferred in planting, the 

 objec5l being to economize the ground as much as pos- 

 sible, at the same time giving proper consideration to 

 the facility of future care and having an eye to the 

 appearance of the orchard. In the square system the 

 land is laid off in lines crossing each other, trees being 

 planted at each crossing. They are placed twenty 

 feet apart, so that io8 trees are included in an acre. 

 By the quincunx system, which is similar to the 

 square except that the rows are doubled and a tree 

 planted in the center of each square, 199 trees to the 

 acre are provided for, but this is generally with a view- 

 to the future removal of the center trees. By the 

 hexagonal system six trees form a hexagon and 

 enclose a seventh, 126 being planted to each acre. 

 The triangular system is similar to the square except 



