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Show LATE IRRIGATION IN ORCHARD Care Mutt Be Exarclsed That Tress Co Into Winter Quarters With Plenty of Water. The gi'iienii practice of discontinuing discontin-uing t ho watering of the orchard In midsummer for tli purpose of allow-.lug allow-.lug tho trees to mature wood growth and color the fruit, generally culls for a late tnU Irrigation. This may tm applied any time after the middle of October If tho treen buve ilptlieil th young wood growth; otherwise the watering had bitter be delayed until the middle of November, fiuys the IVnvcr Field and Farm, lu a bearing orchard the water Is applied after the hint fruit Is picked. In our dry climate care must be exercised to see that the orchard goes Into winter with plenty of moisture In the soil. Evaporation from the twigs continues even through the dormant period and mile the roots have access ac-cess to more moisture the tops of the trees may freeze dry dirlug severe w Inters. The amount of water to be used for this Irrigation will depend much upon tho character of the soil. No doubt many orchards on heavy soils will not require the full watering Still some of the heavy noils are deceiving de-ceiving and an examination will show a very dry sub-soil. A good fall watering wa-tering Is one of the most satisfactory means of Irrigating such soli. Evaporation Evap-oration from the surface Is slow and during the winter the water gradually gradual-ly sinks to the dry subsoil. The soil should be examined and supplied with enough moisture to make It cling together to-gether when pressed In the band, aud still crumble when broken up. As soon as most of the leaves have fallen, the orchard should be plowed or cultivated to catch these leaves for they will help to Improve the soil If plowed under beforo the lute winds sweep them Into the fence corners, Some growers still question the wisdom wis-dom of plowing the orchard, but many who have tried It pronounce It not a success but u ncccBKury step In the proper cultivation of a fruit tract la this dry climate. While many grow-era grow-era fear that the destruction of roots In plowing will Injure the trees this In not necessarily true. As a matter of fact, a little root pruning by plow Ing stimulate root growth and keepi the roots down where liny belong Homo of our heavy soils really must be plowed and the full of the year I an excellent time to do the j work. The plow should run duep enough to break up the hard under-layer under-layer formed by continual shallow cultivation during the growing sea son. A light float or harrow should follow the plow to put the surface In good condition. If left too open the tendency Is to dry out. A good smooth and well broken surface tends ' to bold the moisture. Some folks 1 give one surface cultivation about mid winter and for this work a dlso or cultivator Is employed. Orchard soils properly cultivated before going go-ing Into winter are much more easily eas-ily tilled the following summer. |