TH?: ORAN'GE IN CALIFORNIA — CULTIVATION. 



115 



5<'c-o))(f— Any portion of the orchard where there is any 

 special occasion we cross-furrow before making main furrows. 

 This done, with a little hard work the short pieces of the cross- 

 furrows are easily tilled and kept full. (This is of special 

 advantage among large trees where the spaces between the 

 furrows, between the trees, are necessarily wide.) 



Third—We run water three days in place of two; total 

 amount of water the same. I think this practice may be 

 adopted to great advantage much more generally than it 

 has been. We find that the third day leaves more water in 



The subsoil plow, drawn by eight mules, in the Windermere orchards, La Mirada. 



the ground than either of the others. By this method of irri- 

 gation I feel quite satisfied that the root strata could have 

 been kept thoroughly wet in spite of the hard layer, in any of 

 the young orchards where I have seen the subsoil plow used. 

 In older orchards where this layer had been hardening for 

 years, the implement may prove of great service. Of course, 

 even in young orchards, the desired results can not be secured 

 by the most careful irrigation, except the water when once in 

 the ground is conserved by proper cultivation. 



Again, I would like to refer to our own experiences. Instead 

 of waiting for the irrigating furrows to become dry and then 

 breaking them up thoroughly, bringing much of the saturated 

 earth to the surface, as we used to do, as soon as possible — 

 often within twenty-four hours — we cover the furrows instead 



