The St. Johns herald., 1899-11-25

 Matters.
 --I WINTER IRRIGATION
 OF ORCHARDS.
BY THE AGRICULTUR1sT.

l BY AGkICCITUR1ST.
 1 At the Experiment Station Farm dur- ing the past year all experiment was made 10 test the effect of thorough win. ter irrigation of an orchard. An isolat. ed peach and apricot orchard was the special subject of the experiment. a. though all the orchard on the farm was irrigated more or less thorouhly during the winter months. The object of the experiment. was t0 ascertain how much summer irrigation might be rendered unnecessary by the application ofan a. bundance of water during the winter. The orchard selected was irrigated, 1 by the firrow system, eight times from 1 December to March. The irrigation, during the latter part of March. was an the soil was sufficiently dry, to check e. tanoratiOn. it was narrowed rrossw;se ofthe furrows, and was cultivated twice and pIOwed and narrowed once during the next three months. During the lat ter part of June the orchard was given q light irrigation, but received no more irrigating water during the remainder of the season. In general the plan of the experiment. was thorough winter IT, rigation followed by thorough summer cultivation.
 The effect of the above treatment WAS recorded in two ways: (l) By making ! do otY,o oFf lo oFr ure Tn the soil soon after winter irriga- ton ceased, and (2) ty noting the phys ical appearance of the trees and the character and the amount of the fruit borne.
 For determining tho moisture content I of the soil sample of each foot from the surface to ground water was taken i during April, May. June and Septem- Der. In taking the samples oi soil, roots were encountered ill abundance as deep as fourteen to sixteen feet, while one peach root was followed into the twentieth foot at horizont al distance of eighteen feet from the tree, show ing that the water of at least the upper twenty feet could be used by the trees. The upper five and a half feet was clayey loam; the next nine feet, gravel; then about foot of clay; then another foot 0 I gravel, and the rest of the way to water, fine clay.
 The results from the first set of sam. ples indicated that the irrigatlng wa ter had penetrated to ce tn of twen- tv-four feet. The sixteenth foot was the Wettest one, the soil being so near
 ly saturated that 1t was muddy. From this point tie moisture was less and r less abundant, until the twenty sixth
 foot was reached. From here the per. centage of water increased gradually
 until ground water was reached at thir-
 ty-four feet.
 r The second set of samples showed
 that the capiIlray action upwards had
 about kept pace with evaporation, the
 moisture in the upper four feet being t about the same as the month previous l As whole, however, the water ha0 set- l tied some. During the next month e.
 vaporatlon was more rapid than the up ' ward capillary action. the third set o ,f samples, taken during June. showing :. that the upper five feet had become ve er ry dry. However, there was still plen
 ty of water within reach of the roots ~ the soil from the fourteenth 10 the tweI .r tIeth foot being stlll wet. The soil sam
 pies taken during September showed r. that while the upper fifteen feet wer,
 comparatively dry the lower extremit! ,s of the roots were stlll surrounded by & moist soil.
 The conditions above ground were ve
 ry satisfactory. The trees grew thrift
 fly and maintained a vigorous appear IS ance throughout the season. The tree
 were we'll loaded with fruit, the peach U es and apricots being larger than thu f previous year when the orchard was IT es rigated frequently during the summe
 The quality of the fruit was excellent IT, At the close of the season. though hay
 ing received but one irrigation since
 March, the trees were Tn fine condition ;t. The results of this experiment indi es cate the value of filing the soil witt
 water dnriug the winter. At thls timt |, irrigating water is comparatively abun
 dant, evaporation IS slow, and the irri
 gating water is supplemented by som
 rainfall, while during late spring an, o early summer, when the trees are grow
 ing rapidly and consequently need tn at most water, the conditions are quite di es ferent. Most fruit growers consider i
 advisable Tn cur climate to irrigate a
 least once month from March to Sep s, tember. The above results demnnstrat
 that in permeabIe soils much of thi T. summer irrigation may be dispense
 with, provided the orchard be thorough ot Iy cultivated.
 50
 '' A Frightful Blunder