Summer Cultivation. I51 
mechanical condition and disposition of the soil whether the 
practise will give satisfactory results. It can not be trusted on 
land prone to develop hard-pan, as has already been considered, 
and yet the term “cultivation” has taken such a wide range ‘in 
this State, and the tools have reached such efficiency, that there 
is not as much difference as formerly between the plow and the 
cultivator, except that the former turns the soil and the latter 
stirs without turning. For some who oppose the use of the 
plow, use a chisel-tooth cultivator, cutting to a depth of eight 
inches in the spring, but at other times of the year they do not 
cut more than half as deep. This treatment would tend to dis- 
pose of hard-pan. However this may be, and what the special 
nature of their soils, there are fruit growers, both in northern 
and southern California, who have for years trusted almost 
wholly to the cultivator, cutting to a depth of three or four 
inches, and keep their orchards throughout the year almost in 
the same state of tilth, never allowing a weed to grow. This 
practise is, however, becoming less prevalent, and for certain 
soils the question is practically settled in the minds of nearly 
all orchardists, while for other soils there is still doubt. For the 
heavier soils, which continuous shallow cultivation is apt to ren- 
der too compact, it is necessary to have recourse to the plow to 
open the land for proper aeration and penetration of moisture 
which otherwise would be largely lost by surface run-off. The 
lighter soils do not require this and they seem to do well with 
continuous use of the cultivator. It is beginning to be clearly 
seen, however, that this treatment tends toward the decrease of 
the humus and the consequent impoverishment of the soil. Its 
water-holding capacity is also lessened. These facts have in- 
duced some growers to change their practise and take up the 
plow during late winter or early spring to cover in the growth 
of green stuff which they allow to grow instead of frequently 
destroying it with the winter use of the cultivator. Either the 
fall and spring plowing, or both, followed by the summer use of 
the cultivator, is the most rational and satisfactory practise for 
most of our deciduous orchards, though there are local condi- 
tions and circumstances under which different procedure is pref- 
erable. 
SUMMER CULTIVATION. 
Whatever the winter policy may be, the essential point in 
summer cultivation is to preserve the surface layer of pulverized 
earth. It will not do to have a few inches of clods, from the size 
of a pea to that of a goose-egg, resting on a hard surface. The 
finer the pulverization the shallower can be the surface layer, 
and vice versa, and this is probably one reason why in practise 
