ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



57 



ing one year with another and averaging 

 the longer with the shorter seasons, the 

 seven-months rule will hold good. It is 

 during this rainless period that irrigation 

 becomes necessary to sustain vegetable 

 life. Formerly irrigation was much more 

 general and frequent than in latter years. 

 Within a comparatively recent period it 

 has been determined that thorough culti- 

 vation will, in a great measure, reduce the 

 necessity of applying water artificially, 

 and, in the case of many varieties of 

 grapes and deciduous trees, irrigation may 

 be dispensed with entirely. Orange trees 

 to thrive well and bring forth profitable 

 crops, must be irrigated. 



OVER-lKRIGATION TO BE AVOIDED It 



is a mistake, however, to suppose that 

 because some water is good, a great deal 

 more water is better. No error is more 

 pernicious or, in the end, more certainly 

 ruinous to trees than excessive irrigation. 



In 1877 a committee of the Southern 

 California Horticultural Society, appoint- 

 ed to investigate the matter of irrigation, 

 made a valuable report, which was sum- 

 marized in the following paragraph: 



"The systems of irrigation in use 

 throughout the district are varied. Many 

 use the old system of flooding the entire 

 ground every three or four weeks, using 

 water to the exclusion of cultivation. 

 Others irrigate less and cultivate more. 

 We find, in fact, all phases of irrigation 

 and cultivation, from all water and no 

 work to all work and no water. Neither 

 extreme is profitable, but a golden mean 

 of two or three thorough irrigations, with 

 thoroguh cultivation, your committee be- 

 lieve the orcbardist will find the most suc- 

 cessful. On heavy soils the water should 

 not touch the tree and great care should 

 be exercised after each irrigation that the 

 ground may not bake." 



A MATTER OF EDUCATION. When the 

 ground about the tree is frequently flood- 

 ed, the roots are drawn to the surface. 

 The tree then becomes more sensitive to 

 every change of moisture, and if water is 

 not applied at the regular and frequent 

 intervals to which the tree has been accus- 

 tomed, it wilts and droops. It is not to be 

 supposed that the best of human care can 

 furnish a supply equal to the storage res- 

 ervoirs of nature which lie deeper in the 



earth, and to which the roots ought to be 

 encouraged to go for their supplies. Trees 

 are creatures of habit no less than men, 

 and, "as the twig is bent, the tree's in- 

 clined." It is best to commence this edu- 

 cation early; if you postpone it too long 

 your orchard is likely to prove a lot of 

 spoiled children on your hands. 



How MUCH TO IRRIGATE. During the 

 first summer after planting young orange 

 trees, it may be necessary to water them 

 every month or six weeks. Make it a 

 point to be thorough with your work when 

 you do irrigate. Let the water penetrate 

 deep, and assist the young roots in work- 

 ing down. Do not under any circumstan- 

 ces, allow the ground to remain after ir- 

 rigating in a sodden condition, to bake 

 hard and evaporate the moisture almost 

 as rapidly as it was applied. A tree thus 

 neglected is soon in a worse condition 

 than it would have been if it had received 

 no irrigation at all. I have found it the 

 best plan in treating young trees to exca- 

 vate a considerable basin about each tree 

 and fill this basin with water once or even 

 twice if deemed necessary. Then, after 

 the water has entirely soaked away, fill 

 the basin with dry earth. This covering 

 acts as a mulch, preventing the evapora- 

 tion of the water applied, and the tree is 

 prepared to wait a long time for another 

 drink. The second summer, trees will 

 flourish with three or four irrigations, and 

 the third summer they will thrive with 

 two or three. 



WANT OF IRRIGATION How MANIFEST- 

 ED. Be governed by circumstances. If 

 you see that a tree is suffering, as indicat- 

 ed by curled or wilted and leathery leaves 

 and drooping stems, do not delay the ap- 

 plication of water. It needs help at once. 

 If you follow the plan here indicated and 

 do your work thoroughly, you will find 

 these calls less and less frequent as the 

 tree obtains its foothold on terra firma. 

 You will then have brought it up in the 

 way it should go, and it will reward you 

 in future by a healthy and profitable life 

 and a minimum of labor exacted for its 

 sustenance. It is not advisable to leave 

 the tree until it hangs out its signals of dis- 

 tress before applying water. Keep a sharp 

 watch over your orchard and you may de- 

 tect the premonitory symptoms in one or 



