THE ORANGE IN CALIFORNIA FERTILIZATION. 139 



while not soft like the first, did not stand up well, and a large 

 amount of it became puffy and could only be classed as culls. 

 The last shipments of oranges came from the portion of the 

 orchard where guano was used. The fruit was not puffy, 

 although it was late in June. The oranges, however, had com- 

 menced to drop a good deal and did not keep much better than 

 the rest. It should be added here that the promise for the next 

 year's crop of oranges is best where I used the Bradley fertil- 

 izer; then next the West Coast, and last where the pure guano 

 was used. It should be said that there was a general com- 

 plaint last year that all the oranges did not keep well. I was 

 told in both San Francisco and Sacramento that never before 

 did oranges keep so poorly. Now, the interesting question 

 is, Why did the oranges not keep as well as formerly, and 

 what was the cause of the difference in the quality and keep- 

 ing of the oranges? It will be remembered that the rains of 

 last winter came slowly and timely for the agriculturists, and 

 a larger portion of the rain was taken up by the soil than in 

 any winter of my remembrance since I have been in the 

 valley, a period of twenty-five years. The orchards were 

 soaked with, water for several months. This probably explains 

 the reason for the general non-keeping quality of the last 

 orange crop; and the only reason I can assign for the differ- 

 ence in the keeping quality of the oranges from the different 

 sections of my orchard was the difference in the amount of 

 nitrogen in the different fertilizers the poor crop being 

 accentuated, perhaps, by the stable manure put on the orch- 

 ard. One point was called to my attention, to wit: that the 

 trees bordering a. deep ditch through the orchard had better 

 fruit than the trees more distant from the ditch, indicating 

 that the ground needed draining. 



In regard to the use of nitrogen or ammonia, I had supposed 

 that the same result would attain in whatever form it was 

 used, and have only recently learned that this is not the case. 

 For instance, ammonia in Chile saltpeter is very quickly taken 

 up by the tree roots, or washed out of the soil by rains or irri- 

 gation, while it may be so combined in other materials as to 

 give up its ammonia slowly, and this would make a difference 

 in the value of fertilizers of the same analysis. 



A few years ago I found some of the limbs of the orange 

 trees dying and some dead. This I have arrested, I believe, 



