64 



THE OBANGE, 



be accumulated in the course of a year, 

 and the cost will be merely nominal. 



APPLYING THE MANURE. As soon as 

 the winter rains are well started the ma- 

 nure may be applied to the orchard. Care 

 should be taken not to heap it about the 

 bodies of the trees. It is of very little use 

 there in any event, and may do harm. It 

 should be spread over the ground as far 

 as the lateral roots extend and, with large 

 trees, the whole surface of the ground 

 may be covered with advantage. Turn it 

 in with a plow, and the work is done. The 

 rains will carry the soluble elements down 

 into the earth, making them available for 

 the roots, and the fibrous matter will be 

 incorporated with the surface soil to its 

 great benefit. Stiff soils are thus rendered 

 more friable, and sandy soils more loamy. 



Both will be susceptible to finer tilth and 

 will retain moisture the better therefor. 



ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZERS. When Cali- 

 fornia orange growers shall have utilized 

 the cheap fertilizers at hand, which now 

 go to waste, and then feel the necessity 

 for more concentrated manures, it will be 

 time to talk to them about the manufac- 

 tured article. My object at present is to 

 urge upon them the subject of fertilizing 

 in the main. If they do it at all they will 

 do it well. I believe the home-made com- 

 post heap, as outlined above, would fur- 

 nish all that is required in the way of fer- 

 tilizers at a tithe of the expense of the 

 commercial compounds. 



Let the California orange grower renew 

 his soil in some way, and the sooner he 

 begins this task the better. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



ENEMIES OF THE ORANGE TREE. 



The orange tree has its enemies; so 

 have we all. Probably the horde of orange 

 tree pests is no more numerous or impla- 

 cable than that which preys upon our 

 other domestic trees; but when it comes to 

 numbering and cataloguing them aye, 

 or fighting them either they seem for- 

 midable enough. It is this numbering and 

 cataloguing and studying their habits 

 which painstaking men have performed 

 for us that has placed within our hands 

 the weapons for their destruction. Let 

 nobody be appalled by the array of orange- 

 tree pests presented in these and subse- 

 quent pages; they do not all attack at 

 once, and by taking them in detail and 

 following prescribed methods, every one 

 of them can be vanquished. 



Tin-: GOPHER. This is a .little animal 

 resembling a rat; somewhat more com- 

 pactly built and with shovel teeth and a 

 stubby tail. He burrows in the ground 

 and is almost a universal pest in Califor- 

 nia. IIo is especially. destructive with 

 orange trees because he attacks the roots, 

 many times doing the utmost damage 

 without giving evidence upon the surface 

 that he is at work. The nr.st indication, 



perhaps, is the wilting of the leaves, and 

 then, when one seeks the cause, the tree 

 topples over, the main root having been 

 eaten entirely away. In attacking large 

 trees the gopher's method is to girdle the 

 main stock just below the surface and then 

 destroy the lateral roots by peeling away 

 the bark. 



How TO FIGHT HIM. The way to serve 

 the gopher is to carry the war into Africa, 

 and fight a battle of extermination. Do 

 not wait for him to attack a tree. As soon 

 as you discover his mound of earth thrown 

 up anywhere in the orchard, or near it, 

 open hostilities. 



POISON. I have found crystals of strych- 

 nine one of the handiest and surest means 

 of giving the gopher his quietus. I pro- 

 vide myself with a little bottle or box of 

 poisoned raisins which I keep constantly 

 in my pocket while about the farm. Then, 

 upon discovering a gopher mound I dig 

 it away and work down until the ho\e is 

 exposed. A couple of the raisins ;ir<> 

 thrown in as far as they will go and the 

 gopher is left to his fate. Sometimes, 

 hower, he resists temptation to the ex- 

 tent of filling the hole and throwing the 



