CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



growth of the tree when otherwise it might be seriously injured by 

 drouth. With puddled roots especial care should also be taken to 

 leave the surface loose to prevent evaporation. In making puddle, 

 use loamy soil and never adobe, for in dry time the latter will bake 

 around the roots and may kill the tree. 



The Use of Manure. Never put manure in the hole with the 

 tree. Sometimes the injunction is, Never put anything but well- 

 rotted manure in the hole. It is better to put none of any kind. 

 Manure should be spread upon the ground after planting. The rains 

 then leach it out and it may be turned under in the spring plowing. 

 There are, however, light soils in the drier parts of the state where 

 turning under manure in the spring is a disadvantage, as it makes 

 the soil too porus and facilitates evaporation. On such soils, extra 

 care should be taken to have the manure thoroughly decomposed 

 by composting, as will be described in the chapter on fertilizers, and 

 all applications should be made either late in the spring to act as 

 a mulch in the summer, or if a mulch is not thought desirable, apply 

 the manure in the fall before the first rains, so that it may be turned 

 under at the first plowing and have the whole winter for disintegra- 

 tion. In this dry climate there is often misapprehension, especially 

 among newcomers, as to what is well-rotted manure. They take 

 ths scrapings of the corral, which have been trampled and pul- 

 verized, but which, having been kept dry, have never rotted. When 

 this is put in the holes with the tree and then moistened by rainfall 

 or irrigation, it will burn the tree, the first sign of injury being the 

 drying up of the leaves. It is, on the whole, safest and best to put 

 nothing but well-pulverized surface soil around the roots of the 

 young tree. 



Depth of Planting. The depth to which trees should be set has 

 always been a matter of discord among the planters. The safest rule 

 under ordinary circumstances is to get the tree as nearly as possible 

 the same depth it stood in the nursery row ; that is, so as to have it 

 stand that way when the ground has settled, or the surface returned 

 by cultivation to its normal level. In planting in loose soil in the 

 drier parts of the State, it is often desirable to plant rather low, 

 because several inches depth of the surface soil become dry, and the 

 roots should be well in the moist layer. But if irrigation is to be 

 practiced, it must be remembered that the water level will rise when 

 the soil is saturated and deep-planted trees are apt to suffer. The 

 experience of recent years is decidedly against deep planting, which 

 used to be advised because of our dry climate. Thousands of trees 

 have been ruined by planting too deep except in light sandy soil. 



Speed in Planting. On good soil, well prepared, trees can be 

 put in rapidly and the job still be well done. It is reported that on 

 one occasion, in planting almonds, twenty men finished sixty-four 



