CONTENTS 



Preface 



SECTION I 

 Water Relations 



CHAPTER I 



The Water Requirements of Fruit Plants 3 



Water as a Plant Constituent — The Water Requirements of Plants in Terms 

 of Dry Weight — The Water Requirements of Plants in Terms of Precipita- 

 tion — Amounts Used by the Plants Themselves; Total Amounts Required 

 for Plants and to Compensate for Evaporation, Runoff and Seepage — Plant- 

 ing Distances Related to Moisture Supply — Factors Influencing the Water 

 Requirements of Plants — Nutrient Supply; Cultivation; Light; in General; 

 Some Applications to Practice — The Wilting Point for Fruit Plants — Wilting 

 Coefficients; Wilting under Field Conditions; _ Wilting Coefficients and 

 Drought Resistance — Summary. 



CHAPTER II 



The Intake and Utilization of Water 18 



Water Absorption — The Water Absorbing Organs — The Handling and 

 Transplanting of Nursery Stock — The Water Absorbing Process — Factors 

 Enabling the Roots to Exploit the Soil; Adaptation of Roots to Moisture 

 Conditions; Factors Influencing Rate of Absorption; Submergence and Root 

 Killing — Transpiration — Cuticular and Stomatal Transpiration Compared; 

 Variability in Number of Stomata in Accordance with External Conditions — 

 Factors Influencing Rate of Transpiration — Character of Cuticle; Age of 

 Leaf; Defoliation, Summer Pruning; Wind Velocity, Windbreaks; Light; 

 Temperature, Slope of Ground — The Water Conducting System of the Tree 

 — Summary. 



CHAPTER III 



Orchard Soil Management Methods and Moisture Conservation ... 31 

 Orchard Soil Management Methods Defined and Described — Orchard Soil 

 Management Methods and Surface Run-ofi' — Moisture Under Tillage and 

 Sod-Mulch Systems of Management — Some New York and Pennsjdvania 

 Records; Some New Hampshire Records; English Experience; Some 

 Kentucky and Kansas Records; in General; Practicability of Sod-mulch 

 System Influenced by Depth of Rooting — Influence of Depth and Frequency 

 of Cultivation upon Soil Moisture — Intercrops and the Soil Moisture Supply 

 —Cover Crops and the Moisture Supply — Efi'ects of Early and Late Seeding; 

 Winter-killed and Winter-surviving Cover Crops — Wind Velocity and 

 Evaporation, Windbreaks — Summary. 



vii 



