Page jS 



BETTER FRUIT 



April 



are a loan made by ihf trees to the 

 I )rchardist. The term may be long and 

 the rate of interest low, but sooner or 

 later the trees will need restoration to 

 the soil of the plant food removed by 

 inter-cropping." 



Mr. S. W. McCulloch, who controls 

 150 acres of citrus orchards in Southern 

 California, goes further in stating: "It 

 is always detrimental to the development 

 of an orchard to grow crops between 

 the trees. In some cases the effect is 

 not marked aside from securing less 

 rapid growth, but it will affect the crops 

 of fruit for several years, and in the end 

 nothing will be gained." 



Notwithstanding all this the poor man 

 must needs make the loan or his chil- 

 dren may starve. The settler on a small 

 tract set out to young trees cannot 

 afford, if his means are limited, to wait 

 four or five years for the first returns, 

 •He must produce crops between the 

 rows, and the question for him to con- 

 sider is how this can be done with the 

 least possible injury to the trees. A 

 plentiful supply of water and a deep, 

 rich soil are the essentials of inter-crop- 

 ping. In districts that depend on a 

 meager rainfall of fifteen to twenty 

 inches per annum, or where irrigation 

 water is both scarce and costly, the prac- 

 tice becomes of doubtful value under 

 any circumstances. In most of the fruit 

 districts of the West water for irrigation 

 is stjll reasonably low in price, and the 

 extra amount required for inter-cropping 

 represents but a small part of the net 

 gains from such crops. 



Shallow-rooted plants are considered 

 the most desirable for this purpose. 

 Squash, melons, sweet potatoes, toma- 

 toes and peanuts are the most common 

 in California. The cultivation is done 

 with one horse and a small cultivator. 

 A clear space three to four feet wide is 

 left on each side of the young trees. 

 In the Verde River Valley of Arizona 

 strawberries, lettuce, onions and melons 

 are raised in the young orchards. In 

 parts of Idaho alfalfa fields are fre- 

 quently plowed under to plant trees. 

 When this is done berries, beans, melons, 

 onions and tomatoes can be grown 

 between rows for several years without 

 any apparent injury to young trees. In 

 Northern Colorado raspberries, goose- 

 berries, currants, as well as corn, beans 

 and peas are often planted in orchards, 

 while in Southwestern Kansas it is usu- 

 ally cabbage, melons and sweet potatoes. 



In the young apple orchards of Hood 

 River Valley, Oregon, strawberries are 

 frequently planted between the rows. 

 The manner in which this is done, as 

 well as the system of contour planting 

 which is there practiced, is shown in 

 Figure .32. The manager of a large apple 

 orchard company in Montana states that 

 no appreciable effect is noticed on apple 

 trees as a result of growing potatoes, 

 cabbage, beans,, onions and other vege- 

 tables between the trees, providing the 

 inter-crops are well cultivated and irri- 

 gated. In the fruit districts of Wash- 

 ington inter-cropping is a common prac- 

 tice. In 1907 a fruit grower raised on 

 ten acres of two-year-old trees canta- 

 loupes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, 



corn, radishes, beans, peas, potatoes and 

 turnips, all of which netted him $2,086.50, 

 or an average of $208.65 an acre. 



While opinions differ regarding the 

 wisdom of growing such crops as have 

 been named between the tree rows, most 

 fruit growers are convinced of the bene- 

 ficial effects of cover crops. Notwith- 

 standing the scarcity and high value of 

 water in the Riverside citrus district the 

 superintendent of a large fruit company 

 has for years grown peas and vetch in 

 the orange and lemon orchards under 

 his management, and advocates the free 

 use of irrigation water to supplement 

 the winter rains for the rapid and vig- 

 orous growth of such crops. In the wal- 

 nut groves of Orange County, California, 

 bur clover is sown in the fall, given one 

 or two irrigations during the winter if 

 the rainfall is below the normal and 

 plowed under in April. 



The cost of such cover crops as peas, 

 vetch or clover includes the seed, the 

 labor of sowing it, the water and the 

 time required to apply it. These items, 

 according to Dr. S. S. Twombly, of Ful- 

 lerton, California, amount to from $2.50 

 to $3.25 per acre. Twenty tons per acre 

 of green material is perhaps an average 

 crop. In this tonnage there would be 

 about 160 pounds of nitrogen, which, at 

 twenty cents per pound, represents a 

 value of $32 per acre for a cover crop 

 like vetch. 



When water is used outside of the reg- 

 ular irrigation period or, what is in many 

 cases equivalent, outside of the growing- 

 season it is termed winter irrigation. 

 Over a large part of the arid region the 

 growing season is limited by low tem- 

 peratures to 150 days or less, and when 

 the flow of streams is utilized only during 

 this period much valuable water runs 

 to waste. 



It was for the purpose of utilizing 

 some rif this waste that the orchardists 



of the Pacific Coast states and Arizona 

 began the practice of winter irrigation. 

 The precipitation usually occurs in win- 

 ter in the form of rain, and large quanti- 

 ties of creek water are then available. 

 This water is spread over the orchards 

 in January, February and March, when 

 deciduous trees are dormant. The most 

 favorable conditions for this practice are 

 a mild winter climate, a deep, retentive 

 soil which will hold the greater part of 

 the water applied, deep-rooted trees and 

 a soil moist from frequent rains. 



The creek water which was applied to 

 some of the prune orchards of the Santa 

 Clara A^alley, California, during the win- 

 ter of 1904 was measured by the agents 

 of this office with the following results: 

 From February 27 to April 23, 1,241 

 acres were irrigated under the Statler 

 ditch to an average depth of 1.58 feet. 

 From February 12 to April 23, 2,021 

 acres were irrigated under the Sorosis 

 and Calkins ditches to an average depth 

 of 1.75 feet. In the majority of cases the 

 orchards which are irrigated in winter 

 in this valley receive no additional supply 

 of moisture other than the rainfall of 

 about sixteen inches. 



In the colder parts of the arid region 

 winter irrigation is likewise being prac- 

 ticed with satisfactory results. The pur- 

 pose is not only to store water in the 

 soil, but to prevent the winter-killing of 

 trees. Experience has shown that it is 

 not best to apply much water to orchards 

 during the latter part of the growing 

 season, since it tends to produce imma- 

 ture growth which is easily damaged by 

 frost. In many of the orchards of Mon- 

 tana no water is applied in summer irri- 

 gation after August 20. Owing, how- 

 ever, to the prevalence of warm chinook 

 winds, which not only melt the snow in 

 a night, but rob the exposed soil of much 

 of its moisture, one or two irrigations 

 are frequently necessary in mid-winter. 



