ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



59 



An improvement on the above-named 

 system of sub-irrigation has been invent- 

 ed and patented by Mr. L. M. Holt, of 

 Riverside, and is in process of introduc- 

 tion. It comprehends a system of pipes 

 as recounted, but dispenses with the ver- 

 tical wells, which are referred to as ob- 

 jectionable. 



Mesa Irrigation.— On the mesas it 

 frequently happens that the irrigating 

 stream is not large enough to allow of 

 the first three methods named; or that the 

 pitch of the ground is too abrupt and the 

 soil too porous to admit of the running of 

 water in open ditches at all. Here the 

 most pamstaking and economical meth- 

 ods are in vogue. The water is generally 

 distributed in wooden flumes or in cement 

 or iron pipes, and applied directly to 

 basins made about the trees. With water 

 confined in a pipe, under pressure, and a 

 section of hose to apply it with, a man 

 may do quite as good execution as with a 

 considerable head flowing by gravitation 

 in a ditch. The advantage of the pipe 

 and hose method is in the direct and easy 

 application and the avoidance of all wast- 

 age. 



Distributing by Barrels. — Where 

 pipes and flumes are not available, water 

 is sometimes distributed in barrels or 

 tank wagons. A hose-bibb is usually 



fastened in each tank or barrel, with hose 

 attached, and the team hauls the wagon 

 along as rapidly as the basins are filled. 

 This is a somewhat slow and expensive 

 method of irrigation, however, and is re- 

 sorted to only when more ready means of 

 distribution are not available. 



Cultivating After Irrigating. — • 

 Where the basin method is employed, 

 and dry earth shoveled in to cover all the 

 soil that is wet, as well as where sub- 

 irrigation is in use, a cultivation is by no 

 means imperative; but with all flooding 

 methods the cultivation should invariably 

 follow. 



Mulching. — Some people apply a 

 mulch of straw to the basin surfaces after 

 irrigation and thus avoid cultivating. But 

 this system has its drawbacks. There is 

 almost certain to be enough grain in the 

 straw to seed the ground, and bring forth 

 a crop which requires more labor in the 

 hoeing up than the thorough cultivation 

 of the soil would have amounted to. 



Do Not Cultivate Too Soon.— With 

 clayey soils, and in fact with all of a stiff 

 nature it will not do to cultivate directly 

 after irrigating. A practiced eye is re- 

 quired to tell just when the ground may 

 be stirred without danger of breaking it 

 up into lumps and clods. 



CHAPTER XVL 



PRUNING. 



Objects. — In pruning the orange tree 

 there are two objects in view — 



1st. To give it symmetry. 



2d. To make it healthy and productive. 

 No part of the orchardist's work is more 

 entertaining than this, because it furnishes 

 intellectual as well as manual occupation. 

 Every tree is a study. I may go further, 

 and say that every tree is a new study, for 

 there is such an infinite variety in the 

 combinations of stocks, branches and 

 stems that novel applications of the gen- 

 eral principles of pruning occur in each 

 instance. A man who would prune suc- 

 cessfully must keep up a constant think- 

 ing, and should be prepared to give a 



good and sufficient reason for every cut 

 he makes. His employment is like that 

 of the sculptor, for he is transforming an 

 ungainly object into one of beauty; but 

 unlike the sculptor, the pruner must cut 

 deep, calculating to a nicety how nature 

 may be relied on to round out the contour. 

 It is necessary that the pruner keep an 

 ideal constantly in mind, and that from 

 the earliest stages of his work he strive 

 for the accomplishment of his ideal. To 

 this end he should thoroughly inform 

 himself in advance of the general theory 

 of pruning; of the various systems em- 

 ployed and the one that is best adapted'to 

 his own orchard. 



