WINTER IRRIGATION. 469 



if we look at those countries where fruit grows to the 

 greatest perfedlion without irrigation, we see that they 

 have their principal rainfall during the winter. This 

 is true in the south of France, where nature gives a 

 valuable lesson on the application of water to fruit trees 

 during the hibernal rest. The writer has observed two 

 large peach orchards on similar land and within a 

 quarter of a mile of each other, one of which was not 

 irrigated during winter, while the other received three 

 or four copious irrigations. The peach blossoms 

 opened a few days later in the irrigated orchard, but 

 its fruit ripened at least a week ahead of that in the other 

 orchard. The moisture of the soil probably tended 

 to keep the air cool around the irrigated trees and so 

 retarded the blossoms, but when the fruit on these trees 

 started to grow it rapidly overtook that on the others, 

 which, owing to lack of moisture, were deficient in 

 vitality, whereas the irrigated trees were in condition 

 to devote all their energies to the development of fruit. 

 In the Mesilla valley of New Mexico it has been cus- 

 tomary to hill up grape-vines with earth in November 

 and to apply water during the winter. The cold is 

 not feared so much as the dry winds in the early 

 months of spring. The writer called editorial atten- 

 tion to this fac5l in the Field and Farm several years 

 ago, and as a result nearly all the vineyards around 

 Denver and elsewhere in Colorado are now treated in 

 this manner as the complete means for winter pro- 

 tedlion. 



Depth of Saturation. — A winter-irrigated or- 

 chard in Southern Arizona was once tested to deter- 

 mine the moisture content of the soil. A sample of 



