214 ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



facts that are safe to accept. A finely divided sandy soil will 

 absorb water readily and is easily worked. It will, too, retain 

 water in summer much better than adobe or clay, or a coarse, 

 porous soil. Adobe and clay soils are good for the raising of 

 such crops as grow in the winter, like grasses, wheat, barley and 

 oats ; sandy soils, on the other hand, are adapted for summer- 

 growing products, like corn, melons, pumpkins, fruit trees, grape 

 vines, and not suited to grasses. The first, in summer, with 

 heat shrinks and cracks. It is in a favorable condition to evap- 

 orate its water easily, for a solid, hard earth will sooner lose its 

 water than a soft, mellow surface, as can be seen by our roads, 

 which always dry up sooner than the land on either side. The 

 condition of its capillary attraction, by the spaces between the 

 particles of its soil being close together, are favorable for draw- 

 ing the water in warm weather out of its soil; whereas a sandy 

 soil, by its porosity, has less capillary power to draw the water 

 to the surface and more capacity to take up air in daytime, 

 which, by the cold at night is condensed into water, when more 

 air is again taken up to go through the same changes. Man 

 can do much to assist in retaining water in a soil by cultivation 

 stirring the soil. Even a very light soil will, by rains, dew, gravi- 

 tation and other forces of nature, continually form a crust on 

 top, harden, presenting favorable conditions for shedding rain 

 and also for evaporation. By plowing, this is counteracted, and 

 the oftener this is done the more moisture will be retained and 

 added by giving free ingress to the air and cutting off evapo- 

 ration ; for a loose soil, if only a few inches on top, acts as a 

 mulch. It cuts off communication with the lower strata of soil ; 

 it acts like a lamp that has its wick severed above the oil ; it 

 stops capillary connection with that below. Such a soil can be 

 easily kept in such condition by cultivating, say once a month, 

 with a. minimum of labor; but an adobe or clay soil is very dif- 

 ficult to work; it breaks up in clods, giving more surface for 

 wind and sun to act upon and dry; and, if broken up by beating 

 the clods, makes an almost endless task, for the first rain to pack 

 together again. Cultivation should be continued during the en- 

 tire summer. The ground may be entirely without moisture on 

 the surface ; it may be dry to such a depth that weeds do not 

 sprout any more, and every object apparently wanting for stir- 

 ring the ground, yet you will find that your grape vines will show 

 by their renewed vigor and growth after cultivation that it has 

 not been labor lost. Of course this continued cultivation is only 

 possible in vineyards the first and second years of their growth. 

 When older, they early in the season cover the ground so that 

 no horse can get through them, and by shading the ground, 

 they prevent much of the evaporation and stop weed growth ; 



