IRRIGATION PRACTICE AND HIGHWAYS 317 



longer valuable from a commercial point of view. 

 In cultivation the obligation rests on the cultivator 

 to improve nature by irrigation so that the tree may 

 be enabled to meet the expectations placed on it. 



What has been said about the peach tree is true as 

 to the growth of all economic plants and trees, each 

 according to its own degree, in view of its environ- 

 ment,, its growth habit, and the requirement which 

 man places on it. The plant comes out from its nat- 

 ural into an artificial life. New standards are un- 

 furled, new service is required, new purposes are 

 in view, proper practices must prevail, and proper 

 agencies be chosen. Among these agencies are rain- 

 fall and irrigation; either of them may be dispensed 

 with or both of them may be required; it is man's 

 duty to know where and when. 



In early times irrigation was often looked on as 

 a misfortune, because rainfall products were held to 

 be better in quality and to maintain better condition 

 during transportation. Of course, an excess of water 

 will result in fruit low in quality and very perish- 

 able, providing the excess does not kill the trees 

 which would bear it, but the result would be the 

 same whether the excess of water came from the 

 clouds or from the ditch, though the danger from the 

 latter source is greater. The general facts are that not 

 less than three-fourths of all the fruit which Cali- 

 fornia is now selling to best advantage in the most 

 distant markets is from irrigated trees and vines, 

 and that the greatest butter-producing regions which 

 were formerly on the coast are now found in the ir- 



