186 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS 9 CONVENTION. 



get the fertilizer elements in that. There are vast quantities of fertilizer 

 inert in the soil that must be gotten by the friability of the soil. There 

 are forty thousand pounds and more of potash in the first six feet of 

 California soils, and I have no doubt there are from six thousand to 

 eight thousand pounds of phosphoric acid in an acre; that there are 

 over one hundred and forty thousand pounds of lime; not so much 

 humus, not so much hydrogen. But you have got to pulverize your 

 soil into the very finest condition of pulverization if you expect; to get 

 out of it the result. You go on one man's soil and say, "How beauti- 

 fully it pulverizes under the plow and the cultivator," and you go on 

 another's soil and you see it in jagged lumps. You see in one field a 

 large crop ; in the other, a small crop. One man has great barns over- 

 flowing; the other has barns with the clapboards rattling in every 

 breeze that blows from the four corners of heaven. You see his fences 

 with moss on them because he has never been able to attend to them 

 since the days of long ago. The one is the successful farmer, because 

 he is getting out of the soil that which is in it for him ; and the other 

 is not getting it, because he has not properly worked the soil. 



The temperature of the soil is affected by the humus, also. You take 

 one soil and it is a dark color. The lady wears a light hat in the sum- 

 mer time that her head may not be too hot; she wears a white dress 

 that she may not be too warm. In the winter time the man wears a 

 black hat 'and a black suit because he is warmer. The heat of the sun 

 is absorbed by the black. It is true of the soil. Heat is required in 

 the soil. The humus will take action, the bacteria will be active with 

 warmth in the soil. Everything becomes valuable through the action 

 of bacteria, did I say? Bacteria will not be active under 47 degrees 

 of temperature and they reach their greatest activity at about 97 

 degrees; therefore, we must see to it that we keep our soils warm. A 

 dark soil is warm. Humus makes the soil dark. You may know, then, 

 from the color of your soil whether you have a humus soil or a soil 

 wanting in humus. A soil that is black will be several degrees warmer 

 than one that is light. 



Have you ever been in southern California or in northern California? 

 Have you ever walked along the fence after a cold night when the frost 

 kept you awake all night long for fear of the freezing of your fruit? 

 Have you seen on one side of the fence, a week afterwards, conditions 

 which warranted you in saying, ' ' They have not been hurt ; the leaves 

 are in fine condition; the fruit is all right?" Across the road every- 

 thing gives the appearance of frost. The one is frozen, the other is 

 not. The one soil was degrees warmer than the other and the result 

 was that it was warm enough to make the difference. That is true. 

 You can keep your soil so warm that it will on some nights be the very 

 thing that saves your crop. Your root system that may be near the 



