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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



to overflow, should be rejected because standing water is not good 

 for trees, and because the soil will be apt to be soaked with water 

 and inaccessible just at the time when the trees should be lifted for 

 transplanting to orchard. 



It is not always possible to find an ideal nursery spot on every 

 ranch, but still trees may be well grown on less favorable places 

 if attention is given to correcting natural defects. For example, 

 if the soil be naturally heavy, it may be improved somewhat by 

 repeated plowing and cultivation during the year before starting 

 the trees. If it be an adobe, its mechanical condition may be 

 greatly improved by the application of a top dressing of lime at the 

 rate of six hundred to one thousand pounds of lime to the acre. 

 For this purpose "lime waste," which contains both lime and wood 

 ashes, can be had cheaply at the kilns. Old plaster which may 

 have been left from house repairs is excellent. Even builders' 

 lime would not be very expensive, for but little would be required 

 for so small a plot of land as a farm nursery would need to cover. 

 The lime will increase the amount of plant food in a heavy soil as 

 well as render it more friable. Another way in which a small area 

 of heavy soil may be improved is by the addition of sand. A few 

 loads of sand, if it can be had near by, will remove the tendency 

 to crack, and will act as mulch to prevent evaporation of moisture. 

 If the soil be very loose and subject to too rapid drying out, the 

 remedy will be moderate irrigation during the summer, but it 

 should cease early enough to allow the young trees to ripen their 

 wood before the frosts of autumn. Mulches of various light, fine 

 materials, rotted straw and the like, may be used to advantage 

 among the young seedlings in preventing drying out of the soil, 

 if the plot is to be hand-worked, but such materials are apt to be 

 in the way of neat, thorough work with the horse. A mulch of 

 sand, if available, is not open to this objection. 



In choosing soil for a nursery, a piece of land which has been 

 in cultivation for garden or field crops is to be preferred over a 

 newly-cleared piece. It is often the case that soil from which old 

 stumps or shoots have recently been removed has become soured 

 from the processes of decay in the dead wood. Although the de- 

 posits of humus from decay of woody fiber tends to enrich the soil, 

 afterwards certain acids are formed if the land lies without culti- 

 vation. These are not favorable to the growth of young roots, 

 and a crop to which as much time is given as a crop of young trees, 

 should not be placed upon it. This evil quality in the soil is 

 removed by cultivation and aeration, or may be corrected by the 

 application of lime. This state of soil is most complained of in 

 connection with old stumps and roots of oak trees. 



Situation and Exposure. Warmth in the soil is necessary to a 

 good growth, and a good year's growth is essential to the pro- 



