58 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT- GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



subsoil plow came into use and for two or three years it was used con- 

 siderably. Two years ago there were two different gentlemen came to 

 me and wanted me to see what was the trouble with their orchards. Two 

 of the finest orchards in the valley. They were in very bad condition. 

 I knew nothing about the treatment until afterward. Each of those 

 orchards had been plowed from 16 to 18 inches both ways with a cutting 

 subsoil plow. The owners, both of them, acknowledged that they 

 believed that that process damaged those ten acres of orchard at least 

 $1,000 for that year. The one that was damaged the most has had 

 very little fruit on it this year. I will simply state further that while 

 the process of deep-root cutting was quite popular three years ago, the 

 next year it was less popular, and last year I know of but one instance 

 in our valley where deep-root plowing was used to any extent, and that 

 was by Mr. Mills. I don't know of another instance where the plow 

 has been used in the last, twelve months. But it is not a matter of 

 opinion. Out from the tree are running in every direction these roots, 

 some of them 20 or 30 feet away, and the fibers are at the other end. 



MR. STONE. I should like to give a reply, as far as I can, to this 

 gentleman on my right, as to the depth of the soil. I have several kinds of 

 soil on my place, from heavy to moderately light and very light. The 

 moderately heavy soil I suppose would be about 10 feet deep, and the 

 light soil would be, some of it, not more than 2 or 3 feet deep. I see 

 very little difference in the growth of the trees, and I think it is gener- 

 ally accepted that the fruit from the trees on the light soil is better than 

 the fruit from the trees on the heavy soil. I know of an orchard not 

 far from my own where it is so rocky that there are, between the trees, 

 rocks jutting out of the ground as big as a man's body. And it has 

 good trees and fine fruit. 



MR. KOETHEN. I have a resolution I would like to present, partly 

 prepared by Mr. Reed, as follows: 



Resolved, That it is the opinion of the Fruit-Growers' Association at the twenty-eighth 

 annual State Convention, that the time has come when the citrus fruit interests of this 

 State demand the assistance of either the State or Federal Department of Agriculture 

 in the investigation of diseases and cultural methods of citrus trees. 



PRESIDENT COOPER. That will be referred to the Committee on 

 Resolutions, under the rule. The orange question has been pretty fully 

 discussed. Suppose you take up that of irrigation. 



