88 



There is nothing new in the practice of preparing the ground for 

 trees. Experience has shown that the land must be graded with special 

 reference to its irrigation. There are many misfit orchards among the 

 oldest plantations in this respect, entailing great loss in the congestion 

 of fertilizers, inequalities in irrigation, and impossible irrigation in 

 some cases. The intelligent planter no longer prepares his land 

 improperly or by fixed rule, but proportions his grade as far as possible 

 to the character of his soil and the methods of irrigation he wishes to 

 use. I need not describe the different plans of orchard formation. 

 The square, the five square, and the triangular each has its advocates ; 

 but since the orange has been found such a ravenous feeder that its 

 roots soon ramify its feeding-ground entire, we hear little of the 

 arrangement of the trees, but much of their planting distances. 



Aside from the fact that the square formation has the advantage of 

 all others in economy of cultivation, especially in alluvial soils where 

 the ground neat- the trees does not need cultivation, it has been found 

 advantageous from the fumigator's standpoint. There is nothing more 

 bothersome to the tent men upon a dark night than to keep t ab upon 

 every tree in a five-square or triangular arrangement. As to subsoil- 

 ing, that is not practised extensively of wet years, and may be super- 

 seded altogether by the orchard plough At any rate, the square method 

 allows sufficient room for the subsoiler, even far more than one furrow 

 to the row, which gives the same results as is claimed from the other 

 systems of planting. Plant in square 20 feet across if your land is 

 not strong, 22 by 24 feet where the soil is heavy and the tree growth 

 abundant. 



It is impossible to fumigate many of the old orchards because of 

 the interlocking of the branches, and the error of close planting will 

 hereafter be carefully avoided for this and other reasons too well 

 known to lequire notice On the experience that the greater feeding 

 area a tree is given, the less its liability to dangerous fluctuations in 

 vitality a^d consequent effects upon the quality of the fruit, the 

 average planter would advise 22 by 24 feet as the proper distance to 

 plant, both from the economics of orchard work and from the quantity 

 of merchantable fruit produced. 



There is something new in cultivation. Last year Southern Cali- 

 fornia grew the largest and the least resistant crop of oranges ever 

 produced. Among the other reasons given for this, is shallow cultiva- 

 tion, and, following, shallow irrigation. In the wake of these extremely 

 dry seasons came a persistent hardpan, even in alluvial soils. This 

 produced a tendency to strangulation of the deeper roots and a conse- 

 quent activity of the surface feeders. These surface roots were fed the 

 fertilizers the whole root area should have had, and, being constantly 

 stimulated by irrigation, constantly stirred to hardpan by the teeth of 

 the cultivator, and scalded by the hot sun, the functions of the entire 

 tree were in a state of unrest and partial impotency. It is not impos- 

 sible that this constant arresting and forcing of the development of 

 the fruit caused the sweetening of the pulp observed in October, the 

 lack of oil formation in the skin cells, and the non-union of the rind 

 and pulp — all so noticeable in last season's crop. At any rate, as soon 

 as the 20-inch rainfall of last winter penetrated the hardpan the trees 

 resumed their normal functions with their old-time vigor, and now it 



