CITRUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA — FRUITFULNESS. 47 



Another old Navel orchard is that of Ernest Meachani. He 

 has five acres of trees, twenty-two j'ears of age, planted a rod 

 apart. He has attained results so much superior to some of his 

 neighbors that his methods are worth considering. Having con- 

 siderable livestock, he uses his stable manure by making a dead 

 furrow across the regular irrigating lands, into which he puts 

 it while fresh, three to five feet to the tree, immediateh^ cover- 

 ing it with the plow. In the course of the year he gets over 

 the whole place in this way. This sends the nitrogenous mat- 

 ter deep with the rains and irrigating water, and the soil is 

 made mellow by its presence. In the late winter he applies 

 ten to twelve pounds of guano, with which is mixed three per 

 cent of potash and five per cent of sulphate of iron. He irri- 

 gates thoroughly every thirty days in summer, and his appli- 

 ances of his own devising for deep furrowing and thorough 

 cultivation close up to the trees, while his team walks in the 

 center of the land, are worth examining. These trees are 

 exceptionally fine in color, and the quantity and quality of the 

 fruit are remarkable. There isn't a sick tree in the lot, except 

 one or two attacked by gophers. For several years this five- 

 acre orchard has yielded between three and four thousand 

 boxes of oranges, running perhaps ninety per cent fancy. 

 This orchard most effectually demonstrates the vigor and pro- 

 ductiveness of the old Navel tree when properly cared for. 



Everybody knows the Barny orchard, the largest of the origi- 

 nal Navel orchards. It has always had the best of care, and, if 

 anything, has been over-fertilized at times; and yet, in spite of 

 the harm the terminal branches got from the April frost of two 

 years ago, is marvelously beautiful to-day, with its dark green 

 foliage and heavy crop of splendid fruit. It has water regu- 

 larly, and is always thoroughly cultivated. 



I might multiply such evidences of the effect of proper treat- 

 ment, in every one of which the three points I have referred to 

 are those in which they differ from the less successful. 



It is, however, proper to give a type of another class of orch- 

 ards in which success has been attained where no special effort 

 at ideal cultivation and irrigation has been attempted. Such a 

 one is that of D. P. Chapman. It is an old orchard of ten acres 

 and has yielded from four thousand to seven thousand boxes 

 annually for many years. I can find no other cause for its 

 superior and constant yield but the fact that its owner never 



