39 



each other loosely. It goes without saying that the passage 

 of the sharp tines ever and anon through the happy hoojg 

 of annual surface weeds cutfthem off paet recovery. The 

 land becomes perfectly cleat), like one of our vineyards, 

 well kept at the cost of perpetual hosing. Only such few 

 wexls, as by reason of a perennial creeping root can survive 

 and start again after being chopped up, will require hand- 

 pulling. And thus by use of the interchangeable imple- 

 ments carried by the cultivator, a man may coulter up 

 every square yard of his orchard into a loose protective 

 earth-mulch, and even rake it mechanically to the smooth 

 porous evenness seldom seen outside a garden parterre. 



43. Seeing that the inevitable result of surface irrigation 

 is to produce a close crust on the surface wetted and subse- 

 quently dried, it will follow that whoever irrigates mnst 

 thus break up his top tilth into a mulch layer. Xo thing is 

 more strenuously insisted on by the most recent writers on 

 fruit-culture, men be it remembered who are speaking of 

 their own practice upon farms of an extent we have not 

 yet begun to dream of. And what is more, the advice is ; 

 acted on everywhere with more or less completeness. No 

 better test of what cnltivation a proprietor intends his land 

 shall have, can be obtained, than that which is furnished 

 by the particulars of the contract he makes with a tempo- 

 rary tenant holding the place in his absence. Wickson in 

 his Galifornian Fruits specifies one such agreement, giving 

 names of the parties concerned and the date. It is as follows : 



" Contract price per acre for young orchard on gravelly 

 loam, $12-50, comprising First: Plowing away from the 

 trees and harrowing to follow. Second : Plowing towards 

 trees and harrowing to follow. Ten summer workings with 

 cultivator. Three workings with shallow cultivator or 

 weed-cutter. Five hand-hoeiiigs around the trees. This 

 contract intends the most perfect and complete working of 

 the soil, and specifies the above in order that there may be 

 no difference of opinion between owner and contractor." 



44. It is also stated that in lands infested with u morning 

 glory," a weed which is perhaps as troublesome as our 

 Indian twitch, the rate is higher, and weekly workings with 

 the cultivator are expressly stipulated. 



