The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1898-11-11
FARM AND GARDEN.
MATTERS or INTEREST TO
ACHiCULTURisTs.
Some up-to-Daie Hint. About Cu..
h''tion ~ the soil nud Yields
of-iioriicuitutc. Niticuiture aud
HORTICULTURE


'fA NAlff hhu Funa
To make one ton OF dry matter Do
our grain crops. the use of from BOZ
10 800 tons OF water be- necessary. ln
Wisconsin. King found that tvo.tou
crop OF oat hay required over one
thousand tons OF water per acre. equal
To- about nine inches OF rainfall rhc
average rate for Grd crops at latEt
Us given by European observers at alj
times the weight Of dry matter pro-
duced. being no the rate ~ about thrc.
inch's OF rainfall actually cyapuIatgi
through the plant
To ovaporato this water it is nocoB.
sary that the ground containing the
roots should not De too fuli OF water
one would suppose that with water
flooding the roots Of the plants the lat.
ter would be able To take both food
ana water with added ease. but such
Is not the case. except with aquatic
and semi-aquatic plants. with most
plants the action OF the roots stop ut
the point where they reach Hood
water. Thus II at the depth Of eighteen
Inches flood" water be struck. the
roots below the eighteen inches viii
cease to operate. and II the water con-
dillon continue they will rot of. A
bulletin Of the California experiment
station says on this point. This Is
amply apparent In some Of the irrigat-
cd orange groves Of southern Callfor-
MIA, where the hno roots Of the trees
MI the surface soil as do the roots u
maizo In a cornneld VI tho Mississippi
states; 80 that the pillow can hardly
be run without turning them up and
under. In these same orchards II will
be observed, In digging down that At
n depth OF q few feet the soil IA too
water-soaked TO permit Of the proper
exercise OF the root functions. and that
the roots existing there are either In
active or diseased, That In such cases
abundant irrigation and abundant fer
tillzation alone can maintain an or
chard In bearing condition. IL mat
ter OF course; and there can be no qucs-
tion that q great deal 90 the constant
cry for the fertilization Of orchards Ia
the irrigated sections is due quite AZ
much TO the shallowncss OF roofing
Induced by oyer-irrlgatlon, 40 10 any
really necessary exhaustion ~ tho
land. When the roots are Induced 10
come to and remain nt the surface.
within a surface layer OF eighteen 70
twenty Inches. II naturally becomes
necessary TO feed these roots abundant
~. both with moisture ana with plant
food. This has a. naturally led to an
ovor-estlmatc OF the requirements OF
the trees In both respects. Had deep
roofing been encouraged at first. In
stead OF oyer-stimulatinE the growth
by surface fertilization aud frequent lr-
rigation. some delay IN bearing would
have been amply compensated for by
less Of current outlay for fertilizers.
aud less liability to Injury from FREE
quently unavoidable delay. or from In
adequacy. OF irrigation"
The above is an illustration OF the
necessity OF having land well drained.
II also shows why well-drnlncd land
will stand drouth better than I'M
drained land On the latter kind OF
land the roots OF plants remain near
the surface, and when drouth Gomez
they easily dry up. on well drained
land the roots strike deep and when
dtouth comes they are protected BY
several feet Of earth In which Is fair
supply Of capillary water.