PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUTT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 131 



bothersome to the tent men upon a dark night than to keep tab upon 

 every tree in a five-square or triangular arrangement. As to subsoiling, 

 that is not practiced extensively of wet years, and may be superseded 

 altogether by the orchard plow. At any rate, the square method allows 

 sufficient room for the subsoiler, even far more than one farrow to the 

 row, which gives the same results as is claimed from the other systems 

 of planting. Plant in squares 20 feet across if your land is not strong, 

 22 by 24 feet where the soil is heavy and the tree growth abundant. 

 Many orchardists who planted 18 by 20 feet are reaping the benefit of 

 their folly by hauling their fruit out upon narrow sleds, and Southern 

 California is not an ideal locality for sledding. It is impossible to fumi- 

 gate many of the old orchards because of the interlocking of the 

 branches, and the error of close planting will hereafter be carefully 

 avoided for this and other reasons too well known to require notice. 

 On the experience that the greater feeding area a tree is given, the less 

 its liability to dangerous fluctuations in vitality and consequent elBfects 

 upon the quality of the fruit, the average planter would advise 22 by 24 

 feet as the proper distance to plant, both from the economics of orchard 

 work and from the quantity of merchantable fruit produced. 



There is something new in cultivation. Last year Southern Cali- 

 fornia grew the largest and the least resistant crop of oranges ever 

 produced. Among the other reasons given for this, is shallow cultiva- 

 tion, and, following, shallow irrigation. In the wake of these extremely 

 dry seasons came a persistent hardpan, even in alluvial soils. This 

 produced a tendency to strangulation of the deeper roots and a conse- 

 quent activity of the surface feeders. These surface roots were fed the 

 fertilizers the whole root area should have had, and, being constantly 

 stimulated by irrigation, constantly stirred to hardpan by the teeth of 

 the cultivator, and scalded by the hot sun, the functions of the entire tree 

 were in a state of unrest and partial impotency. It is not impossible 

 that this constant arresting and forcing of the development of the fruit 

 caused the sweetening of the pulp observed in October, the lack of oil 

 formation in the skin cells, and the non-union of the rind and pulp — 

 all so noticeable in last season's crop. At any rate, as soon as the 

 20-inch rainfall of last winter penetrated the hardpan the trees resumed 

 their normal functions with their old-time vigor, and now it is a 

 laborious process to separate the rind from even a ripe orange, and 

 impossible to find an abnormal crop in other respects. These points 

 may be thought somewhat theoretical, but they have brought convic- 

 tion to a large number of practical men, who will hereafter, in the 

 event of a dry, hot season, use the orchard plow to train the tree roots 

 down to a safer feeding surface by preventing the formation of a dust 

 pan. In spite of the adversities of last season, I knew several cases of 

 deep plowing which held the fruit intact until May, while many in the 



