48 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



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 

 loses a chance to apply any kind of manures, natural or arti- 

 ficial, which he believes good. Such applications, with average 

 treatment, as regards soil and water use, have proven a good 

 investment. If there is a criticism due here, it is that excessive 

 use of nitrogen may have caused rather more than the usual 

 scab among the trees. 



Another experience, valuable as illustrating the effect of the 

 best treatment upon a comparatively young Navel orchard 

 that had suffered from the March frost, is that of A. P. John- 

 son. In spite of the fact that a large proportion of the bearing 

 wood had been removed, a heavy application of fertilizer, prop- 

 erly applied, brought not only a verj^ profitable crop the follow- 

 ing winter, but with a later generous application, a crop the 

 present season, which, for uniform excellence, it is hard to 

 excel. Mr. Johnson's old seedlings, upon which he has put, 

 perhaps, seventy-five cents worth of fertilizer to the tree, appear 

 to have twenty to twenty-five boxes of fruit each at ttie present 

 time. 



But the transforming effect of heavy fertilizing is more 

 conclusively shown in the old Kearn place, which, starved knd 

 neglected in past years, had a crop last season not worth the 

 cost of picking, while to-day, as the result of expending ninety 

 cents to the tree for fertilizer last year, there is a transforma- 

 tion in appearance and a crop which will give a handsome divi- 

 dend. I mention this not as directly bearing upon the main 

 topic we are discussing, but as showing the effect of generous 

 expenditures in restoring the health of an orange grove. The 

 cure for tree weakness and nonproduction is simply proper tree 

 food in ample quantity, timely irrigation, and deep and thorough 

 cultivation. 



