99, BULLETIN 499, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the trees to reestablish their root systems without checking the 
growth. 
The foliage of the trees mulched with alfalfa and bean straw was 
much denser and darker in color than that of the trees mulched with 
barley and pine shavings, the latter trees being off color. The trees 
mulched with sweet clover, bur clover, and manure were intermediate 
in color and density of foliage. 
While the values of the different mulching materials used in this 
experiment can not be considered to be accurately represented by the 
results shown in Table IX, their probable relative value is indicated. 
In view of the corroborative results obtained in the Victoria tract it 
would appear that alfalfa is decidedly more valuable for mulching 
purposes than manure. It also appears from these tests that 150 
pounds of alfalfa or 15 to 20 cubic feet of manure when applied to an 
area of about 150 to 170 square feet will provide sufficient mulching 
material to last one year and maintain an effective mulch during that 
period. 
REDLANDS TRACT. 
A further comparison of the mulched-basin method with furrow 
irrigation is afforded by a mulched grove near Redlands. This was 
planted at the same time and with the same stock as an adjoining 
grove, and the two received uniform treatment for a time, but for 
a number of years they have been handled independently. In 1913 
a grove of 8 acres was basined by the owner and mulched with 
alfalfa. The basins were small, scarcely including the drip of the 
trees. Owing to the slope of the land, two basins were necessary for 
each tree. The furrow rows were seeded to alfalfa at the time the 
basins were made, for the purpose of supplying mulching material. 
The amount of alfalfa produced, however, was not even sufficient to 
maintain a mulch in the small basins, and in the fall of 1915 the 
alfalfa was plowed up. The seeding of the furrow rows to alfalfa 
cndoubtedly checked the growth of the trees somewhat by limiting 
the moisture supply. Moisture determinations made immediately 
after irrigation where alfalfa was growing showed that the irriga- 
tion water penetrated only about a foot below the bottom of the 
furrows. 
A 10-aere grove adjoining the 8-acre basined grove has through- 
cut been furrow irrigated and cultivated in the usual manner. 
While the basins were established in the 8-acre tract in 1913, their 
effect on the set and yield of fruit would not be seen until the fol- 
lowing year. The average yield of this tract in 1911 and 1913 (1912 
being excluded on account of the freeze) was 4.9 boxes per tree, 
compared with 3.2 boxes per tree on the 10-acre tract. 
