46 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



improving their mettiods, instead of drifting along in the 

 easier, conventional way which is common. Young orchards 

 generally pay while the soil is virgin and its abuse has not 

 begun to affect the product. It will be well if the conceit 

 which has always characterized the residents of each young 

 fruit settlement shall be eliminated before its orchardists dis- 

 cover that to maintain the reputation of their horticultural 

 youth there is need of constant and faithful labor, and a gen- 

 erous feeding of the soil before its best elements shall have been 

 extracted. Providence has given to each orchardist, in the 

 natural fertility of his soil, a little capital with which to work. 

 He can not draw upon it without loss, and permanent pros- 

 perity depends upon maintaining it. It is because this is gone 

 that we hear of the decadence of the older orange trees, and to 

 nothing else. The pioneers have had some expensive expe- 

 riences, and it will be well if the later comers shall benefit by 

 them. 



General statements regarding my conclusions may have more 

 force if I give brief reference to the methods of successful growers. 

 There are few orchardists in Southern California who are better 

 known for the quality of their fruit than W. H. Backus. Though 

 he has never aimed to unduly force his trees, he has had uni- 

 form success in securing regular crops of fine-textured fruit. 

 His orchard is one of the very oldest, and his trees have the 

 disadvantage of having been planted only a rod apart. The 

 soil is heavy. If there were anything in the claim of the 

 deterioration of the Navel tree it should find justification here. 

 And yet the trees are generally fine in colo]-, and always well 

 loaded with fruit. What methods have maintained the uniform 

 excellence of this orchard? Mr. Backus has always used fer- 

 tilizers generously, always given from a ton to a ton and a half 

 to the acre. He says he made the mistake of using a smaller 

 quantity than usual last year, and applied it too late, and is 

 satisfied he is a loser by so doing. He thinks it is a serious 

 mistake to wait until the trees show need before giving water. 

 To allow the soil to bake once is to make all subsequent irri- 

 gation less effective. He has always cultivated deeply, and 

 considers this one of the fundamental causes of his success. 

 Mr. Backus has never failed of good results with any of the 

 high-grade manufactured fertilizers, and he will continue to 

 use them. 



