208 frrigation of the Apricot. 
escapes a year of little or no fruit. A discussion of this subject: 
is given in a previous chapter. 
TRRIGATION OF THE APRICOT, 
Whether the apricot shall be irrigated or not is answered in 
the chapter on irrigation. In many locations, with proper prun- 
ing, thinning and cultivation, perfectly satisfactory fruit can be 
grown with the usual rainfall. In others a single winter irrigation 
will satisfy all the needs of the tree: in others a single irrigation 
just after fruit picking and summer pruning will carry the tree 
through. It is a fact, however, that as the trees advance in age 
some supplement to the average rainfall is often desirable and 
in dry years irrigation is the saving of two crops. Some idea 
of the amount of water used can be had from the chapter on 
irrigation. The following account by Mr. Neff applies to his 
practise in Orange County, which is an average situation as to 
rainfall and atmospheric humidity, and is as good a general 
statement as could be .made:— 
If rains are copious, winter irrigation may be dispensed with during 
the first two or three years after planting the orchard, but when the trees 
reach the age for bearing fruit the rain water should be supplanted by irriga- 
tion water until the soil is thoroughly wet 5 feet deep, and in order to have 
this, at least 20 inches of water, including rainfall, must be put on the land. 
Three irrigations should be given the trees during the first summer, but it is 
not necessary to wet more than a strip 5 or 6 feet wide along the tree rows. 
The orchard should have three irrigations during the second summer and a 
strip 12 feet wide should be watered, as the roots are reaching farther and 
the trees require a greater amount of water. The irrigation for the first 
two years should always be done before the trees show any want of water, 
so as to keep them growing vigorously. 
All the space between the trees should be watered the third year and 
afterward; but two irrigations will be sufficient for the summer. The 
best time for the summer irrigation of bearing apricot trees is when the 
ae is about half grown, which is usually about the second or third week 
in May. 
If well watered at this time the fruit grows to its largest, and has time 
to ripen slowly as the ground gradually dries, until it has all the sugar which 
will go into the fruit. An orchard in full bearing that has been well watered 
in the winter should now have as much as full roo inches of water for two 
hours on each acre (equal to four acre-inches). 
The second irrigation should be given as soon as possible after the 
summer pruning is done, in order to start the trees growing and develop 
the fruit buds for the next year. This will not require quite so much water 
as the irrigation in May, but ought to be as much as 100 inches of water for 
one hour on each acre. 
DISEASES OF "THE: APRICOT, 
Though the apricot tree, as has been said, is regarded as 
one of the healthiest fruit trees, it is subject to some maladies. 
Trees perish irom being set in unsuitable situations, and in these 
cases, if the evil be stagnant water in the soil, or penetration to. 
