172 Summer Lrrigation. 
summer or winter, or both, or whether it is not necessary to 
make any artificial application at all, depends upon existing con- 
ditions. which the grower must ascertain and to which his policy 
and practise must conform. It is a fact, however, that in all 
soils, which under good cultivation are fairly retentive, winter 
irrigation, when water is most abundant, and usually carries 
most sediment, can be made to go far toward making summer 
irrigation unnecessary for all deciduous fruits. 
As to winter irrigation, practise varies, some relying upon 
a single heavy flooding by using checks on contour lines, by 
which, perhaps, a foot in depth or more of water is allowed to 
soak into the soil; others use the same method of application in 
winter as in summer, and, therefore, give a number of irrigations 
in winter. There is, of course, much less danger of injury by 
water to deciduous growths in winter, because they are dormant, 
though an eye should be kept on drainage for excessive irriga- 
tion as for excessive rainfall. The grape and the pear are 
known to endure long submergence, but some other fruits are 
sensitive about it. 
Summer Irrigation—When this shall begin and when end 
are to be locally determined. In some places even the earliest 
fruits can not reach satisfactory size and quality without irriga- 
tion. In others rainfall with winter irrigation will suffice for 
proper development of early fruits, but not for late. In both 
cases the iruit may be satisfactory, but the tree unable to hold 
its leaf vigor until the work of the growing season is properly 
completed. It is then apparent that local practise must vary in 
order to reach the universal fact, and that is that all through its 
active season the tree must have’constant and adequate moisture 
supply. Many evils in lack of bearing, in dying-back, in unsea- 
sonable activity and the like are due to inadequate, intermittent 
and, in some cases, to excessive moisture in the soil. 
Cultivation and Irrigation—With such an extension of irri- 
gation practise as is now being realized, there is danger that 
those who have previously trusted so fully upon good cultivation 
may swing to the other extreme and trust too much to the stream 
of water and too little to the plow and cultivator. There is a 
temptation this way when one finds that he can run water in 
large amounts very cheaply. Not only is there danger of over- 
irrigation in the growth of tree and fruit, but the ill effects of 
water upon the soil, when unattended by good cultivation, are 
constantly threatened. The tree needs air as well as water; it 
needs a certain free condition of the soil for its best root action. 
These needs can be amply secured when adequate application of 
water is quickly followed by soil-stirring. Irrigated soil rightly 
treated is delightfully mellow and free and of condition to invite 
