68 IRRIGATION 
will remember what Mr. Shepard says just above about 
the contrary practice in the Hood River ; there they do 
not irrigate the young trees, but they do occasionally 
irrigate the bearing trees. Professor C. I. Lewis tells us 
(loc. cit.) that “in the Grand Ronde Valley young orchards 
up to the time of heavy bearing seem to do very well 
without any irrigation, but heavy bearing orchards seem 
to need several irrigations in order to mature a heavy 
crop of large apples. In the Williamette Valley cultiva- 
tion is all that is required.” 
The danger which chiefly threatens when irrigation is 
used in excess is the accumulation of alkali or injurious 
salts in the upper layers of the soil. To counteract this, 
drainage is necessary, to wash out and so cleanse the soil. 
If the soil gets packed and hard, as it tends to do under 
constant irrigation, the land must be ploughed deep in 
the spring. 
The fact of the matter appears to be that in British 
Columbia, equally whether your orchard is situated in 
an irrigation or in a non-irrigation district, it is wise to 
have command of water against the height of the summer. 
The costs of irrigation water, therefore, equally whether 
you pay a water tax annually or put in your own works 
(well, dam, pipe, flume, or what not), must be regarded 
as an insurance against adverse seasons. If, then, you 
are able to command a sufficient supply of water precisely 
at the time you want it, and if you possess the necessary 
experience to use it aright, you need virtually be under 
no anxiety as to a crop failure. 
The sole objection to irrigation that remains is the 
inalienable nature of the burden, which, because of the 
