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After the spring plowing a cultivator, or weed cutter, should be run 
through the orchard from two to four times in the season as may be 
needed, to keep the weeds down and the surface loose. Particular pains 
should be taken in the last cultivation to leave the ground beneath the 
trees as fine and smooth as it can be made. Many growers work it 
fine with a rake, breaking carefully all lumps, smoothing down all 
hillocks or inequalities, and leaving a perfectly level and soft surface, 
upon which the ripened fruit can fall without injury. In foothill land 
it is usual after the harvest to plow a furrow on the low side of the row, 
which is left during the winter to catch the rainfall and prevent its 
escape to the lower lands. By this means the land gets the benefit of 
the entire winter precipitation, which is husbanded for summer use. 
IRRIGATION. 
_The matter of irrigation is another thing that must be left to the indi- 
vidual orchardist, for it depends wholly upon the character of the soil 
upon which the orchard is growing. Some lands producing excellent 
prunes are so damp that drainage has to be resorted to in order to pre- 
_ vent the surplus water from drowning out the trees, while upon others, 
notably in the southern part of the State, where intense evaporation 
and dry land are the rule, irrigation must be frequent and thorough, 
and careful cultivation must follow each period of irrigation. In por- 
tions of the Santa Clara Valley, it is believed that at least twenty inches 
of rain are necessary to insure good crops, and winter irrigation is 
resorted to, the land being thoroughly soaked while the trees are in their 
dormant state, and no water is applied in the summer. Upon this ques- 
tion there is as great diversity of opinion as there is in regard to soil, 
and each grower must use his own best judgment, taking into consider- 
ation the characteristics of the land upon which his orchard is situated. 
In sections where irrigation is practiced for all orchard crops, the prune 
is treated the same as is the peach, the apricot, or the almond. 
PRUNING. 
The training of the young tree requires thought, care, and judgment. 
In the first ‘three years of its life it is to assume the form which it is to 
retain during its whole existence. Here again, the individual judgment 
must be exercised, and conditions of soil, climate, and requirements 
must be considered. Two schools in regard to pruning have sprung 
up, each advocating a system diametrically opposed to the other, and 
each backing its opinions with plausible arguments—the one favoring 
high pruning, the other low; one heavy pruning, the other light. It is 
argued in favor of the high-cut tree that it is much easier to cultivate 
the orchard when a horse can be driven under the limbs, than when it 
ig necessary to work under them with a hoe, as when they are trained 
low. The advocates of high pruning, in answer to the objections that 
high pruned trees in hot climates are liable to sun-burn, state that they 
may be planted closer together and thus afford shade for each other. 
In favor of low pruning, it is urged that the limbs bending beneath their 
weight of fruit will find support on the ground, that the trunks are pro- 
tected from the sun, and that the fruit is easier to gather. 
