— 119 — 



there is ample rain; others there is not. In order to provide against a 

 calamity we had better be ready with an irrigating plant. One of my 

 neighbors put in a large irrigation plant and irrigated several hundred 

 acres. He put all the water on his land that he wanted to. And I 

 never saw trees look so well. The time to irrigate is after the fruit is 

 off. Then there should be a good irrigation just when the rains are 

 stopping. Then the trees will take care- of themselves in good shape 

 and mature their fruit and be ready for another year. I think the 

 question in regard to irrigation is not: Can you raise fruit without 

 irrigation? but, Can you raise enough more fruit by irrigation to more 

 than pay the cost of irrigation? 



A Voice: How did it affect the size of the fruit? Did it increase the 

 size of the fruit? 



Mr. Righter: Yes, sir; and more than that, it increased the quality. 

 I know one man who irrigated late in the season, and he had better 

 fruit and it shrunk less than that of anybody else in the neighborhood. 

 We took some of that fruit that was irrigated along in the spring and 

 some that was irrigated in the summer and sent it up to the University 

 at Berkeley for analysis, and it showed that there was about as much 

 saccharine matter in those prunes that were irrigated late as in the 

 others. They were larger and they were better. 



A Voice: Did it not make your fruit later in ripening? 



Mr. Righter: Yes, I think it did. And that is the reason it was 

 better. 



Mr. Northrup, of Amador: I am a large peach grower. I keep the 

 water running through my orchard all the time. There is not a day in 

 the week that we don't irrigate. Instead of raising a couple of hundred 

 small peaches I raise a hundred big ones. The result is that I sell my 

 fruit for a big price. While my neighbors who do not irrigate get 25 

 cents a box, I get 65 cents. Irrigation is the life of fruit in our county. 

 If we can't get water we can't grow trees. But I want to state in con- 

 nection with it that we prune. We never cease to prune every year, 

 and prune thoroughly, bearing in mind always that all good peaches 

 grow on new wood, and that an unthrifty tree never produces new wood; 

 consequently we aim, by pruning thoroughly, and then by irrigating, to 

 keep our trees thrifty. In that way we make a success. Wherever that 

 plan is followed in our county I never have known a failure. 



Mr. Walton: I would like to ask what it costs a ton to produce 

 peaches in that way? 



Mr. Northrup: I can tell you a little something about it. When 

 once we get our water ditches fixed we can apphr most of our water by 

 gravitation, although we use an engine to convey a good deal of our 

 water, and that makes it a little more expensive. But I find it pays to 

 go to any expense, because the price corresponds to the expense. I 

 could not give you the figures for it, but the difference is very little. Of 

 course we cultivate thoroughly. We plow it well twice. We cultivate 

 three or four times and keep the moisture as near the surface as pos- 

 sible. As soon as the moisture begins to fall, then we apply the water, 

 and if the weather is very hot, we keep it running, twice a week at any 

 rate, and continuously on the gravelly and sandy spots. We never turn 

 the water off. We turn a very small stream on and keep it going. And 

 the result is that from six- and seven-year-old trees this year we picked 

 ail the way from twelve to twenty boxes of fine peaches, averaging forty- 



