66 IRRIGATION 
Growers’ Association, now editor of Better Fruit, the best 
horticultural journal published in America that I am 
acquainted with, himself a practical fruit-grower of several 
years’ experience, and a very successful exhibitor at the 
principal apple shows during the last half-dozen years or 
so. In the February (1908) issue of his magazine he 
wrote (p. 18): “In order to get the best results, both as 
to yield and size of fruit, it is necessary to keep the orchard 
under perfect cultivation, so that the soil will be properly 
pulverized. A thorough state of cultivation is necessary 
in order to enable the rootlets to get their food from the 
soil, and it is also necessary in order to conserve the 
moisture, which is absolutely necessary for the growth 
of the tree. Moisture can be supplied by irrigation, but 
while Hood River Valley is blessed with three irrigation 
systems, and therefore has an ample supply of water, 
very little water is brought into our orchards. Most of 
the growers will not water an orchard until the trees 
come into bearing. We claim the roots go deeper if not 
irrigated, and therefore get a bigger area of soil. After 
an orchard comes into bearing, even then many fruit- 
growers do not irrigate, and few irrigate more than once a 
year. We believe that the less water an apple has, the 
better the flavour will be, and we feel equally convinced 
that the apple that is not irrigated, or only is irrigated 
once during the season, will keep longer than the one 
irrigated more frequently.” 
Accepting these statements as true, and they cannot 
well be doubted, it is surely consistent with common 
sense to conclude that, if you can grow your apples with- 
out irrigation, that is the best plan ; but if you have to 
