114 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



furrower. This fills the furrows from their shoulders and leaves 

 a light coat of pulverized earth on the rest of the surface. 

 The object is to stop the evaporation of moisture from the 

 saturated bottoms of the furrows "as soon as possible. Others 

 doubtless have, or will know, better methods of doing this. 

 For cultivating, for several years we used the Planet Junior, 

 with the widest shovels, for the purpose of moving the hard 

 earth at the bottom, which is more easily done than with the 

 narrow shovels. But the objection to bringing so much of the 

 damp earth to the surface had so impressed itself upon me, 

 that this season I determined to try the Killfeler cultivator, 

 with its large number of shovel-pointed teeth, which thor- 

 oughly stirs all the ground without exposing the wet earth. 

 There are serious objections to this implement, but I must 

 confess to being greatly interested in the results from it. 

 Using it thoroughly once after each irrigation, vehen the 

 ground is in best condition, after the furrows are covered, then 

 keeping the surface well loosened with a fine-tooth harrow, we 

 have been able, so far as we can determine, to hold the 

 moisture better than we have ever succeeded in doing before, 

 and we find no signs of any permanent hard layers forming 

 to retard irrigation. 



PRUNING. 



For years a strong contest was waged between the advocates 

 of high pruning and those who favored low pruning, and many 

 arguments were urged by the champions of each system in 

 behalf of their favorite method. A^'ictory finally perched upon 

 the banner of the low-pruners, and the greater part of the more 

 recent orange orchards have been trained low, experience hav- 

 ing demonstrated that in our peculiar climate and in the dry 

 soils in which our citrus fruits attain their best condition, low 

 pruning offers great advantages over the rival system. 



In pruning orange trees, especially when allowed to grow for 

 several years without it, considerable work and skill are required 

 in removing the surplus inside growth and limbs without 

 destroying the natural symmetry of the tree. The sun should 

 not be allowed to strike the inside wood and foliage, as it is 



