75 



THE ORANGE IN NORTH CALIFORNIA.* 



By D. H. Murray, of Oroville. 



The question is often asked by strangers on arriving at some aban-- 

 doned grove, " What is the cause of the trees all dying " ? The reason 

 in some cases is neglect. Many have been informed that all they have 

 to do is to get the ground, plant the trees, and at the end of two years- 

 they would have paying returns. They find out about that time that 

 it takes considerable cash to take care of an orange grove as it ought to 

 be cared for, and the consequence is that they try to cut down expenses 

 by letting the cultivation go. In consequence, the trees all turn 

 yellow and eventually die. The following year the grove looks so bad 

 that the owner in many cases abandons the place althogether, and 

 swears the orange business is a fraud. 



I would always advise a person, with the view of having a model grover 

 to test and examine the land thoroughly. You may be told it is a 

 beautiful loooking tract, but remember it may be only skin derp, and 

 below the surface you will find hardpan, cemented gravel, pip a clay, or 

 some such subsoils which are undesirable, and have caused many an or- 

 chardist disappointment and loss. In facr, so much so that I have 

 known them to abandon the place altogether. 



Everything depends upon the character and situation of the land to 

 be planted, and according to these you must select and arrange your 

 grove. 



The orange delights in a warm, deep, fertile, and well-drained soil, and 

 under these conditions will give to growers a bounteous crop. A cold 

 and damp Foil breeds disease, and death is sure to follow. Always 

 select a position for an orange grove in a rich, deep, porous soil, where 

 the trees will grow strong and vigorous. Better never plant a tree 

 than put it in heavy, low ground, or where water can be reached with- 

 in three or four feet of the surface. The orange must not at any time 

 stand in water, which in a very short time will cause the roots to die, 

 and your tree will soon be beyond recovery. 



The orange is sometimes root-killed by winter rains, although as a 

 rule it is well on in the spring when the trees show the damage by 

 turning yellow and the limbs begin to die. Drainage, as I will here- 

 after state, will overcome the trouble by lowering the water table and 

 keeping the roots dry. 



Throughout the northern countries the soil is of a red, gravelly loam, 

 particularly so in the foothill lands, and is charged heavily with oxide 

 of iron, which gives our oranges a much richer colour than that of the 

 orange in man^r other parts of the State. 



We are more inland and have a much higher temperature during the 

 summer, which certainly ripens our fruit five or six weeks earlier than 

 the orange matures in the South. 



The soil on the river bottoms is sandy on top and adobe below in 

 many localities, which has a tendency to make the fruit coarse and 



* From " ProceediDga of Twenty- Sixih Fruit- Growers' Convention of Cali- 

 fornia", Dec, 1901. 



