DRY-LAND ORCHARDING 



greater per cent. Tests in the uncultivated ground ad- 

 joining the plat showed that this contained but one-half 

 to two-thirds as much moisture as the cultivated land. 



The trees suffered some damage from frosts following 

 protracted warm weather in winter and early spring. 

 Partly to this cause, too, must be ascribed the scanty pro- 

 duction of fruit, especially of peaches. The severest or- 

 deal, however, through which the orchard passed during 

 these years was a terrific hail-storm (about June 1, 1907), 

 which not only stripped the trees of their fruit and many 

 of their twigs, but also deprived them of no small part 

 of their bark. Fig 1, Plate XIII. shows the orchard near 

 the close of this period. 



The next three years (1909, 1910, and 1911) furnished 

 a crucial test for the writer's method of maintaining an 

 orchard during a drought. The total precipitation for 

 these years was 14.92, 16.22, and 18.68 inches, respectively, 

 showing this to be the severest period of drought recorded 

 at San Antonio since the establishment of the U. S. Weather 

 Bureau in 1885. The first of these years is notable for the 

 lowest annual precipitation recorded by the Bureau. Des- 

 pite this fact the moisture content of the soil in the or- 

 chard (at the depth of 8 inches) fell to only about 13 per 

 cent during the most unfavorable part of the year, and 

 the trees apparently suffered but little. The summer 

 and early fall of 1910 proved to be a period of extreme 

 drought, and the per cent of soil moisture fell as low as 

 9 at a depth of 8 inches. The trees in the upper part of 

 the orchard withstood the two-year drought fairly well, 

 while some of the peach and plum trees in tne lower part, 

 where the soil is shallow, suffered severely or died. But 

 the climax had not yet been reached. During 1911 there 

 was a practically rainless period extending from May 12th 

 to October 30th. Toward the close of this period the soil 

 at the depth of 8 inches appeared quite dry, but 10 per 

 cent of moisture was still present at 18 inches. The 

 appearance of the upper two rows of trees at this time is 

 shown in Fig 2, Plate XIII. A number of peach and plum 



