44 ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



sub -irrigation as practiced by Mr. Hamilton; we desire to 

 awaken discussion and experiment. If there are other objec- 

 tions to the system we should know what they are. 



"Mr. Hamilton's trees made a very vigorous growth last 

 season, and at the end of the season the soil was in a very good 

 condition." 



The following is from the report of the investigating commit- 

 tee appointed by the Southern California Horticultural Society : 



"The systems of irrigation in use throughout the district are 

 varied. Many use the old system of flooding the entire ground 

 every three or four weeks, using water to the exclusion of culti- 

 vation. Others irrigate less and cultivate more. We find, in 

 fact, all phases of irrigation and cultivation, from all water and 

 no work to all work and no water. Neither extreme is profit- 

 able, but a golden mean of two or three thorough irrigations, 

 with thorough cultivation, your committee believe the orchardist 

 will find the most successful. On heavy soils the water should 

 not touch the tree, and great care should be exercised after each 

 irrigation that the ground may not bake." 



The following discussions and papers read on the subject of 

 irrigation, before the Horticultural Society at its September 

 session, 1877, are appended almost entire. It will be found that 

 the whole ground has been ably discussed, and much that is 

 useful and beneficial can be gleaned from the discussion. The 

 essays are all from practical men of great experience, and re- 

 flect substantially and concisely the knowledge gained by years 

 of close application. Portions of some of the papers deal almost 

 exclusively with questions of law and equity, and will interest 

 the student in this branch of the subject. In using, in this con- 

 nection, the discussions and essays, and in making quotations 

 for other portions of this work, I give them substantially as the 

 Society received them, leaving the readers to judge for them- 

 selves the matter they contain. 



Practical Irrigation, by Robert Lyon, of San Buenaventura : 

 "To the Southern California Horticultural Society : Gentlemen 

 The subject selected for discussion at your present meeting is 

 of great personal interest to me. All of my land is subject to 

 irrigation. 1 have experimented for the last sixteen years in 



