993 
Amount OF WatTER REQUIRED, 
No hard-and-fast rule can be laid down. Local experience, as 
well as the general appearance of the crop, are the best guide in 
this matter; for instance, the amount of rainfall varies sometimes 
considerably even in the same seasons in different years; again 
one soil may be more retentive than another; or, owing to its con- 
figuration and the more or less porous and gravelly nature of its 
sub-soil, may either be very quickly drained or else may receive 
abundant moisture frum the drainage of the slope above it; the 
varieties and age of the trees have alsu a direet bearmg in regu- 
lating the amount of water to be applied; thus certain soil will be 
quite moist enough for deciduous trees, such as plums, apples, 
pears, and would require irrigation for citrus trees, or mcist enough 
for young and not for bearing trees. In a very dry climate, for 
instance, the voung orange orchard should be irrigated every three 
weeks at first, and then once a month during the first season by 
simply running one furrow at a distance of two or three feet on 
each side of the trees. 
The second and third seasons, the trees having been well es- 
tablished, less irrigation will be required, and in our climate one 
watering every six to eight weeks will be sufficient. 
By the fourth vear, the trees having gradually increased in 
size and being in bearing, the number of furrows between each row 
will likewise be increased until, when the trees have grown to their 
full size and produce heavy crops. by the tenth year, the distance 
between the furrows is brought to five or six feet and the time given 
for each watering is gradually prolonged. As a rule, orange trees 
in full bearing will require as much as three times the quantity of 
water required by the same trees during their second and third year 
in the orchard. 
In the case of the vine, the water management also requires 
judgment. During the first season of planting, one or two good 
waterings are more than will be needed, the ground having received 
a good soaking previous to planting out the cuttings or the rooted 
plants. The second season, one early autumn and one summer 
watering will be found sufficient, and later on as the vines enter 
into bearing they should not be irrigated more than once every five 
or six weeks in the case of table or raisin grapes, and once every 
six or seven weeks in the case of wine grapes. In either case, the 
watering should cease when the berries have attained their full size 
and are ripening, or else they will burst, viz., according to localities 
and varieties, the beginning of December to the beginning of Feb- 
ruary. In the ease of wine grapes, the last irrigation should not 
be given later than the time the grapes are “turning,” or otherwisee 
the must will be watery and the wine will be thin, poor in colour, in 
flavour, and in keeping qualities. 
