promote decay, and is even then too indestructible. It is also possible that its decay may induce root rot of trees. We should burn the stuff and spread the ashes. Vineyard prunings are more promising because more easily and quickly reduced by decay. Vinecane-hashers have been proposed from time to time, but we do not know anyone who long used them.
Gypsum on Grain Land.
Is there any profit in sowing gypsum on grain land, say on wheat or oat crop? At what stage should it be applied and in what quantity?
It would have a tendency to make the surface more friable and therefore better for moisture retention, and it could be used at the rate of 1000 pounds to the acre, broadcasted before plowing for grain. As our soils are, however, usually well supplied with lime, there is a question whether there would be any profit in the use of gypsum, for, aside from lime, it contains no plant food, although it does act rather energetically upon other coil contents. Gypsum is a tonic and not a fertilizer from that point of view. The best way to satisfy yourself of its effect would be to try a small area, marked so as you could note its behavior as compared with the rest of the field.
Gypsum and Alfalfa.
What is gypsum composed of? Is it detrimental to land in future years? Have the lands of California any black alkali in them? I notice my neighbors who sow gypsum on their alfalfa get a very much better yield of hay than those who do not.
Gypsum is sulphate of lime. It is not detrimental to the land in after years except that its action is to render immediately available other plant foods and this may render the land poorer – not by the addition of anything that is injurious but by the quicker using up of plant food which it already contains. Black alkali is very common in California in alkali lands. In lands which show their quality by good cropping, there is no reason to apprehend black alkali nor to use gypsum to prevent its occurrence. The use of gypsum does stimulate the growth of alfalfa and makes its product greater just as you observe in the experience of your neighbors, but the more they use up the land now the less they will have later, unless they resort to regular fertilization to restore what has been exhausted. But even that may be a good business proposition.
What Gypsum Does.
I intend to fertilize alfalfa and should like to know about gypsum. I have heard it stimulates the growth temporarily but in three or four years hurts the land. I have heavy land.
The functions of gypsum are: (a) to supply lime when the soil lacks it; (b) to make a heavy soil more mellow, and (c) to act upon other soil substances to render them more available for plant food. These are some of the soil aspects of gypsum; it may have plant aspects also. It is too much to say that gypsum hurts the land; it does, however, help the plant to more quickly exhaust its fertility, and in this respect is not like the direct plant foods which comprise the true fertilizers – one of which gypsum is not. It might be best for your pocketbook and for the mechanical condition of the soil to use it, but do not think that it is maintaining the fertility of the land (a service which we expect from the true fertilizers) except as it may supply a possible deficiency of lime.
How Much Gypsum?
How much per acre, how frequently and what seasons of the year are the best time to apply gypsum?
Of gypsum on alkali, we should begin at the rate of one ton to the acre and repeat the application as frequently as necessary to achieve the desired result. If the alkali was quite strong we would use twice as much. Without reference to an alkaline condition in the soil, and to give heavy soil a more friable character, which promotes cultivation, aeration, etc., and, therefore, ministers to more successful production, half a ton to the acre can be used, applications to be repeated as conditions seem to warrant it.
Wood Ashes in the Garden.
There is available in my neighborhood a free supply of wood ashes. Can you tell me how best to distribute the same in a garden (flowers and garden truck), and what, if any, treatment is to be given the ashes for the best results.
Wood ashes long exposed to rain lose most of their valuable contents, and leached ashes are only of small value. If they are fresh ashes or ashes which have been kept dry, they are chiefly valuable for potash, which is good in its way, but not all that a plant needs. If, however, your soil is shy of potash, the use of ashes will notably improve growth if not applied in excess in the caustic form in which it occurs in the ashes. They require no treatment. Spread, say, a quarter of an inch thickness all over the ground and dig in deeply. It may also help you by destruction of wire worms and other ground pests.
Coal Ashes in the Garden.
What is the effect of coal ashes on the red clay soil of Redlands or wood and coal ashes combined?
Coal ashes are exceedingly desirable upon clay land because their mechanical mixture with the fine particles of the clay renders the soil more friable, permeable and better adapted to the growth of most plants. Coal ashes, however, possess no fertilizing value – their action is merely mechanical. The wood ashes which may be combined with them are desirable as a source of potash which most plants require.
Liming a Chicken Yard.
I have a small family orchard of half an acre, fenced in as a chicken yard, the soil of which has become very foul. When would be the best time to apply lime and how much?
Put on 500 pounds of lime and plow under as soon as you can – that is, spread the lime just before the plowing, with a shower or two on the lime before plowing, if the weather runs that way.
Poultry Manure.
Give directions for using chicken manure. For use of young trees, is there any difference in treatment of deciduous and citrus trees? For use in the vegetable garden and the flower garden, what should be mixed with it and in what proportions? So many people say poultry manure is so strong, I am afraid to use it.
It is a fact that poultry manure, free from earth, contains even as high as four times as much plant food as ordinary stable manure. It is, therefore, to be used with proportional care, so that the plants shall not receive too much, and particularly so that there may not be too much collected in one place. Probably the best way to guard against this is to thoroughly mix the manure with three or four times its bulk of ordinary garden soil and then use this mixture at about the same rate you would stable manure. If you do not desire to go to all this trouble, make an even scattering of the manure and work it into the soil. There is no reason to fear the material; simply guard against the unwise use of it. It is good for all the plants which you mention; in fact, for any plant grown, provided it is sparingly and evenly distributed.
It should be pulverized so that there shall not be lumps and masses in the same place for fear of root injury. Of course, the strength depends upon how much earth is gathered up with the manure. Sometimes there is so much waste material that it can be handled just as ordinary farm manure is.
We should not use over 20 pounds of clean droppings to a young tree and should mix it with the soil for a considerable distance around the tree. Old bearing trees might stand two or three tons to the acre if distributed all over the ground. The material contains everything that is necessary for the growth of the tree and formation of the fruit.
Ashes and Poultry Manure.
It is said that ashes mixed with chicken manure is not good. I use ashes altogether on the drop boards because I can keep the boards cleaner. The refuse is then scattered around the fruit trees.
Wood ashes and lime should never be used as you propose, because they set free the nitrogen compounds which are the most valuable content of poultry manures. This action is conditioned largely upon the presence of moisture, and if the droppings are kept dry and hurried into the soil the loss is lessened. Coal ashes, on the other hand, are a thoroughly good absorbent when the coal burns to a fine ash or is sifted. They do not act as wood ashes do, because they do not contain soluble alkali. They also have a good mellowing effect on heavy soil.
Caustic Lime Not a Good Absorbent.
Would air-slackened lime be suitable to sprinkle over the dropping boards in hen houses?
Gypsum is greatly superior to air-slacked lime for the hen houses, as it has every beneficial effect of the latter, while the air-slacked lime will set free much of the fertilizing value of the manure, which the gypsum will not do.
Too Much Chicken Manure for Young Trees.
I have peach trees and apple trees, 3 to 6 years old, that are very thrifty but grow only wood. The soil was poor when planting, and I have put on plenty of sweepings from the chicken-yards. I suppose that is the cause of the trouble.
Undoubtedly you have overmanured your soil with chicken manure, which is a very strong fertilizer and should only be used in limited quantities. In order to counteract any acidity or ill effects which have been produced by its excessive application, it would be desirable for you to apply about 500 to 1000 pounds per acre of common builders’ lime at the beginning of the rainy season, working it into the soil with the fall or early winter plowing. Do not cut back the tree during the dormant season, although, of course, you may have to remove surplus or interfering branches for the sake of shaping the tree. Winter pruning induces a greater wood growth during the following summer; therefore, it should be avoided under such conditions as you describe. Having adopted such a policy, there is nothing for you to do but to wait for the trees to slow down and assume a normal bearing habit proper for their ages. Summer pruning is an offset for excessive wood growth.
Suburban Wastes.
We keep a cow and poultry and have a dry-earth toilet. We have been burying the manure in the little garden spot or along by the fences or spreading it out on the alfalfa before it is rotted, but do not get good results. How shall we apply it to get the best results ? We have a town ordinance against leaving it in piles to rot.
You can compost it in a tight bin made of planks, and using enough water to prevent too rapid fermentation and loss of valuable ingredients. During the dry season you can probably use enough dry earth or road dust to render the material inoffensive, and you can also distribute it then without undesirable results.
Composting Garden Wastes.
You recommend making a compost of all scrapings, garbage, weeds, etc. Is there any danger in having this in a pit near the house?
If you desire to put garden wastes, including manure, into a pit, the only objection would be the heavy work of digging it out again. If you allow waste water from the house to run into the pit, there would probably be not enough dry material to absorb it, and the pit would be not only objectionable on account of odors, but possibly dangerous to health. The water would also prevent decomposition, because of exclusion of air. At the same time, enough moisture to promote slow decomposition is essential. It is usually more convenient to compost garden wastes on the surface of the ground, enclosing them with a plank retainer, because moisture can easily be applied with a hose, as desirable, the material can be occasionally forked over to promote decay, and the heavy work of digging material out of a pit is avoided. Such a collection is neither offensive nor dangerous if handled right.
Composting Manure.
Will the dry barnyard manure, when heaped up and dampened with water, make a valuable fertilizer?
For garden use, dry manure in heaps should be dampened with water from time to time so as to prevent too active fermentation. Of course, water should not be supplied so freely as to cause a leaching of the pile. It is also desirable that the material should be forked over from time to time to distribute moisture and promote decay. When this is done a thoroughly first-class fertilizer is produced.
Barnyard Manure and Alkali.
In spots my land is hard and has some black alkali. Will barnyard manure help the hard land if cultivated in?
Use stable manure because that would not only furnish nitrogen, if your plants need any more, but it would add coarse material and ultimately humus which would overcome the tendency of your soil to become compact and thus concentrate alkali near the surface by evaporation. Mellow the soil, increase the humus, make water movement freer and good cultivation easier and alkali will become weaker by distribution through a greater mass of the soil and may be too weak at any point to be troublesome, unless you have too much to start with. Put on manure at the beginning of the rainy season and plow it under, with all the green stuff which grows upon it, during the winter or early spring.
Stable Manure and Bean Straw.
What are the approximate contents of common stable manure; also, how much of the above is contained in bean straw?
The composition of mixed stable manure is given as containing in one ton: Nitrogen, 10 pounds; phosphoric acid, 5 pounds; potash, 10 pounds. The constituents of bean straw in one ton, are given as: Nitrogen, 28 pounds; phosphoric acid, 6 pounds; potash, 38 pounds; Of course, a large part of the difference in composition is due to the excessive amount of moisture which ordinary stable manure contains. Air dried stable manure, such as is found in a California corral, would have much higher fertilizing value than such moist manure as an Eastern chemist would be likely to handle.
Roofing a Manure Pit.
Is it necessary to roof a manure pit, if the pit is tight so that all rain on manure is caught in the liquid manure and nothing is lost?
To secure satisfactory composting of stable manures in a pit it is necessary to be able to regulate the moisture of the mass. If it becomes too dry, too rapid fermentation takes place and the material is destroyed by what is called fire-fanging. If too much liquid enters the pit, so that the material is submerged, the air is excluded and fermentation stops. For these reasons it is necessary that a pit in the region of large rainfall be covered, and water be used from a hose or other source of supply in just sufficient quantity to keep the material right for slow fermentation. How much water should be added to bring the moisture to a right condition depends upon how much liquid waste runs into the pit, and where water is used for cleaning a stable care has to be taken that the pit is not submerged. Success with a pit is, therefore, conditioned on the amount of moisture admitted, and this cannot be controlled unless the pit has a cover fit to shed rainfall. Of course, it may be adjustable so that some rainfall may be admitted as may be desirable.
Value of Animals in Manure.
In the operation of our fruit and dairy ranch we have the manure from some forty head of horses and cattle, which is distributed over the place. We cut our alfalfa and feed it and do very little pasturing. In order to give our dairy the proper credit, we would kindly ask what you consider a fair price for the manure of a cow for one year. Also what would the manure from a horse for one year be worth?
A compilation of a considerable number of weighings, analyses and valuations in Europe, cited by Prof. Roberts in his book on the “Fertility of the Land,” gives an average value of the voidings of a cow for a year as $32.25 and of a horse at $24.06. This is based, of course, upon the collection and saving of all excrements which is never secured except in careful experimentation. The value of manure depends upon the quality of the feed. In two experiments, considered a safe substitute for the straw, apart from the fact that the gave a value in manure of $1 per ton of hay fed; cows fed on clover and bran gave value in manure of 3.80 per ton of mixed feed. Your alfalfa feeding would approach the higher value. You will have to make an estimate from the above data to serve your purpose and you can figure it either by the number of animals or by the tonnage of the feed.
Value of Fresh and Dry Manure.
What is the relative value of the weekly or semi-weekly corral scrapings which are tramped fine and air-dried; and of the fresh, wet manure from the stable? I do not understand that the latter has appreciable water added, and the amount of sand in the corral scrapings would be small.
Fresh, mixed animal manure is usually calculated to contain about 75 per cent of water. Manure which has been quickly dried, without fermentation and without leaching by rains, may be worth four or five times as much per ton. Nothing, however, short of analysis would determine the value of any particular lot, for that depends somewhat upon the way the animals are fed, as well as upon the moisture content.
Shavings in Stable Manure.
Is barnyard fertilizer containing shavings instead of straw, desirable?
Barnyard manure containing shavings is chiefly objectionable because of the amount of inert material. The shavings are exceedingly slow to decompose, and in light soil in considerable quantities would cause a serious loss of moisture. If applied, on the other hand, to a heavy soil and accompanied by sufficient irrigation water, the effect of making the soil more friable might be very desirable. It depends then upon circumstances whether shavings can be concited by Prof. Snyder in his “Soils and Fertilizers,” cows fed on hay straw is more valuable not only because more easily decomposed, but because its content of plant food is greater.
Handling Grape Pomace.
In the case of grape pomace, would not the large value shown by analysis be chiefly in the seeds? My observation is that these are exceedingly slow to became available in the soil. Would composting break down the shell of the seed?
Grape pomace is slowly available because of the slow disintegration you mention. It could be hastened by drying and grinding, but we doubt if this or other treatment would return its cost. Decay by moisture promoted by composting with manure, kept at a low temperature by continuous moisture would render it sooner available, but this would involve labor which, at our wage rates, would probably make the material cost more than it is worth. This is probably a cost in which time is cheaper than money.
Sheep and Goat Manure.
I can buy goat manure from an inclosure where this is deposited to an amount of about five carloads. Will goat manure be of great value in fertilizing an orchard? If so, how much of it should be spread an an acre?
Accumulations of sheep and goat manure in a dry situation, that is, where not leached out by heavy rainfall, have been found to run as high as $13 per ton in fertilizing constituents. The average would, however, be not above $7.50, and would depend not only upon the unleached condition of the material but upon the amount of sand mixed with it. If it is in a situation where sand blows very freely, it might not be worth over $4 or $5 per ton, possibly not that much. You have, therefore, to deal with a condition largely unknown. So far as its fertilizing quality goes, however, it is freely available and directly calculated to stimulate the growth of plants, and probably four or five tons could be used to the acre without injury if well distributed over the surface of the land. Application can be made at any time of the year, for the drying will not injure it. It will not, however, become available until the soil is sufficiently moist to carry its contents to the roots of the plants. Under ordinary conditions in California, application should be made just before the beginning of the rainy season.
Hog Manure and Potatoes.
What is the fertilizing value of hog manure, and also what is the best fertilizer to use for potatoes? Our potatoes are planted early in January.
Hog manure is rather a rank and strong fertilizer, usually very rich, although the quality of it depends upon how well the hogs have been fed – that from grain-fed hogs being notably better. The valuation of hog manure ranges from $2.50 to $3.25 per ton, according to the feeding as noted, while ordinary stable manure may be worth from $2 to $2.75 per ton. It is not a good idea to apply these organic manures directly for the growth of potatoes. It is better to apply them to the land for the growth of a grain or forage crop, plowing in the stubble and using the land for potatoes the following year. If you wish to fertilize directly for potatoes, the use of a commercial fertilizer containing a good amount of potash would be a better proposition.
Fertilizer for Sweet Potatoes and Melons.
I have sandy soil that has been used for sweet potatoes until it is worn out for that crop, and would like your advice as to the best fertilizer to use. Also, what fertilizer would be best for melons on land that has been planted to melons for the past three years?
There is not much difference in the plant food required by the two crops you mention, but both evidently need a freshened soil and an increase of humus. We should apply a half ton to the acre of a complete fertilizer, of which any dealer can give you descriptions and prices. If you wish to do a good job, start a growth of peas or vetches or burr clover, and sow the fertilizer evenly with the seed. Plow the growth under in February and roll (as the soil is sandy) to close down and promote the decay of the green stuff, which ought to be so well accomplished by the date that it is safe to plant sweet potatoes or melons that it will give no trouble in summer cultivation.
An Abuse of Grape Pomace.
I got in an argument with a neighbor of mine who stated that grape pomace is not a fertilizer. Is it so? My neighbor says that two years ago he had two apricot trees in his yard, and they were fine bearing and healthy trees. After making his wine he put the pomace on the ground and they died. Could that be the cause?
Yes, probably. He used too much fresh pomace and the resulting fermentation of its products may have killed the trees. But grape pomace, after going through fermentation and in the process of decay, makes humus in addition to giving potash and other desirable substances to the soil.
Manuring Vineyard.
Does barnyard manure have any injurious effect on the vines if applied on my vineyard? One of my neighbors claims barnyard manure burned his vines so he got no crop wherever he spread the manure, and nothing would now induce him to use it again.
Barnyard manure can be safely used in a vineyard at the beginning of the rainy season, working it in with the plowing, but not using too much. Wine grapes are sometimes injuriously affected in flavor by the use of such fertilizer, but the growth of the vine itself can be stimulated by the rational use of it. Your neighbor apparently either used too much or made the application at the beginning of the dry season or made some other mistake.
Bones for Grape Vines.
I am going to plant out some grape vines, and would like to know if it is a good plan to put old bones, broken up fine, into the holes when planting.
Yes, if you do not use too much and it is mixed with earth, a little beyond the touch of the roots at planting. You do not need to finely break the bones. The roots will take care of that. But do not put in too much coarse stuff, for fear of causing too rapid drainage.
Reviving Blighted Trees.
I have a couple of apple trees here that were hurt by the pear blight three years ago and were cut back since then; they come out each year, but the leaves curl up, and they do not do anything. I would like to know if putting any fertilizer around them would help them to put out their leaves, and if so what I should use?
Put some stable manure on the top of the soil around your trees now so that the rains may reach the contents of the soil, then later in the season dig the manure into the soil. Apply water during the summer time and this will encourage the trees to grow, if there is any vigor remaining in them. This treatment, however, will not protect them from the blight.
Fertilizing Pear Orchard.
I have pear trees 15 years old which have fruited heavily for years and have never been fertilized. What is the best fertilizer for the soil which is heavy, and when is the best time to apply it? I intend planting rye to plow under in the spring, but thought possibly the fertilizer should be applied first.
If you have stable manure available, nothing could be better for the feeding of the trees and for its mellowing effect upon your heavy soil. Application can be made at once, to be worked into the land when the rye is sown. It will help the trees and give you more rye which in the end will help the trees. If you have no stable manure available, what is called by the dealers a “complete fertilizer” for orchard purposes is what you should use and apply it when you work the land for rye.
Fertilizing Olives.
What is the best means of fertilizing an olive orchard? My orchard gives me a perfect quality of oil, but a poor quantity. My soil is dry calcareous, red and gray, and is very thin in places, therefore, it lacks moisture.
An olive orchard can be fertilized with stable manure or with a “complete fertilizer,” or with the special brands of different manufacturers of special fruit fertilizers. But you must be sure that your trees do not need moisture more than they need fertilizers, for without adequate moisture fertilizers cannot do their best work. The increase of the humus content of the soil, either secured by stable manure or by the plowing under of winter-grown cover crops, is desirable, as they not only give the trees more plant food, but make the soil also more retentive of moisture. You will have to experiment along this line to see just what is best for your trees.
Consult the Trees.
Can I send you a little soil out of my one-year-old pear orchard so that you can advise me what I can do to improve its fertility. The trees are fairly thrifty, but as fruit growing is my pleasure I wish to make it a model orchard and add whatever it requires of nitrogen, humus, etc., immediately so as to increase the growth for this summer. Next winter I intend to put manure around them and cultivate about every other month.
Careful experimenting with fertilizers will teach you more than analysis would do, because the behavior of the tree under various conditions tells you more than a chemist possibly could. Besides, we are of the conviction that on good soils young fruit trees should not be pushed beyond the growth which they would naturally make with a regular and adequate moisture supply. Be careful about using fertilizers on young trees, either in the summer or in the winter. When they come to bearing age and yield large crops of fruit, that is another question. Any California soil which will not grow young fruit trees thriftily should not be used for orchard purposes unless an amateur desires to grow trees on a picturesque lot of rocks or sand.
Results of Fertilizing Olives.
We have 100 acres in olives about six miles northeast of Rialto in San Bernardino county. In 1908 we got about five tons from the 100 acres. We began fertilizing and cultivating in 1909, and have put on the 100 acres about the same amount of fertilizer each year. In 1909 we got 15 tons; in 1910, 116 tons, and 1911 is estimated at 325 to 350 tons.
It is important that your olive trees are responding to good treatment and fertilization. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be always the case and a good many olive trees have been made into firewood because nothing seemed to bring them into satisfactory bearing. Good bearing olive trees are now among the very best of our horticultural properties, while non-bearing olive trees are worth about $7 a cord for fire wood.
Nursery Fertilizers.
I have light sandy loam, well drained. It has been in blackberries, and I now have it planted to nursery fruit tree stock. I have given it this spring two applications of nitrate of soda, but no other fertilizer. Will the nitrate act alone, or must I apply also the phosphate and potash to get results?
Nitrate of soda will act alone and will stimulate growth, and there are cases in which there is enough phosphate and potash already in the soil to act with it. Usually, however, it is customary to use a complete fertilizer containing phosphate and potash as well as nitrogen, in order that the plant may be more roundly supplied and promoted, and one would be a little safer in using that sort of fertilizer than in relying upon the nitrate of soda alone. You will, of course, be careful not to use these fertilizers in too large amounts, for nitrate of soda is especially dangerous if used in excess.
Almond Hulls and Sawdust.
Is there any fertilizing value in the hulls of almonds? Would pine sawdust from the lumber mills be a good substance to mix in and plow under in a three-acre adobe patch in order to loosen and lighten the soil for truck gardening?
Almond hulls have considerable fertilizing value, but they are slow to decompose, and, therefore, may be a long time unused by the plant. They also have a good feeding value for stock, and if you can expose them in the corral so the stock can eat as they like, this is the best way to get them into fertilizing form. If they can be cheaply ground their availability as a fertilizer would, of course, be quickened. Redwood sawdust is better than pine sawdust, but any kind of sawdust can be made to serve a good purpose in mellowing heavy soils if not used to excess and if there is plenty of moisture to promote decay.
Fertilizing Fruit Trees.
I have an orchard of prunes, apricots and cherries, which has been bearing since some 30 years ago, without fertilization, except possibly muddy sediment from occasional irrigations of mountain streams. Various people are advocating the use of nitrates and other fertilizers. Should I have samples of this earth analyzed in order to ascertain what the soil most needs?
To find out whether your trees need fertilization, study the tree and the product and do not depend upon chemical analysis of the soil. If your trees are growing thriftily and have sufficiently goodsized leaves of good color, and if fruit of good size and quality is obtained, it is not necesssary to think of fertilization. If the trees are not satisfactory in all these respects, the first thing to do is to determine whether they have moisture enough during the later part of the summer. This should be determined by digging or boring to a depth or three or four feet in July or August. The subsoil should be reasonably moist in order to sustain the tree during the late summer and early fall when strong fruit buds for the coming year will be finished. If you are sure the moisture supply is ample, then fertilization either with stable manure or with commercial fertilizers containing especially nitrates and phosphates should be undertaken experimentally, in accordance with suggestions for application made to you by dealers in these articles, who are usually well informed by observation. When you have the tree to advise you of the condition of the soil, you do not need a chemist, although if the tree manifests serious distress and is unable to make satisfactory growth the suggestions of a chemist may be very helpful.
Fertilizing Oranges.
What is the general and what do you consider the ideal, manuring, and when applied for orange trees from 15 to 12 years old under irrigation? I use about 2 cwt. each of superphosphate, nitrate of soda and sulphate of potash per acre, but am dissatisfied with my yields as compared with yours in California.
There is not only no standard for fertilizing orange trees, but there is no “ideal” which might be considered as a basis for a standard. All growers who are awake to the necessity of doing something for bearing trees, try all things and hold fast to what (they think) is good. Practically none of them has any enduring conviction or demonstration as to what is good, but they keep on trying. There is, however, one clear and enduring conviction, and that is, that continuous fertilizing must be done for profit, and our best growers are using the same materials you mention in considerably larger amounts than you apply, and use also other forms of nitrogenous fertilizers. The amounts of superphosphate and nitrate which you use would be considered homeopathic treatment by our growers.
Cow Stable Drainage for Fruit.
I have been told that the drainings from a cow barn make an excellent fertilizer for orange and lemon trees, in fact, anywhere on plants where manure is considered beneficial.
The drainage from a cow barn is excellent for fertilizing almost any crop unless it is used in too large quantity. If it should be combined with a considerable amount of water used for cleaning out the stable, it would be excellent for the irrigation of all kinds of fruit trees. Care should be taken, however, not to oversaturate the ground, which would be the case if the washing of the stable was allowed to run continuously alongside a single row of trees. The water should be changed from row to row in succession, cultivating the ground meantime to promote aeration and to prevent too great compacting of the soil.
Seed Farm Refuse as a Fertilizer.
Would cleanings from sweet peas or all kinds of seeds grown on a seed farm be of any value as a fertilizer on sandy loam soil for an orchard? This has been in a pile for three years or more, and I can get it for the hauling. There are a hundred loads or more of it and not very far to haul.
It would be worth more on a heavy soil, because the danger of drying out would be less and the surety of reduction to humus greater. To get the highest value from such stuff it should be composted with water and turning in heaps, but that would occasion expense beyond value probably, unless it could be composted with manure for market garden purposes. The hauling might be good work for idle teams. Spread the stuff rather thinly to be covered in with fall plowing, so that its decay could be promoted during the rainy season.
Slow Stuff as a Fertilizer.
How can we use sawdust and shavings from our high school shop so as to combine it with street sweepings, lawn cuttings, etc., and insure ready decay without objectionable features?
Do not mix sawdust and shavings with lawn clippings and street sweepings, because of the great difference in susceptibility to decay. The lawn clippings and street sweepings, which would contain considerable horse manure, would be readily transformed into a good fertilizer by composting. Such treatment, however, would have no appreciable effect upon sawdust or shavings for a considerable period of time, and they would still be too coarse in their character to be of any value unless you have to deal with heavy clay soil, and in that case the sawdust and fine shavings might be dug in at once and trusted to decay slowly in the soil, at the same time improving its friability by their coarser particles. If, however, you are dealing with light sandy loam, such coarse material would cause too rapid drying out and injure the plant, which might be benefited by lawn clippings and street sweepings. The best way to get rid of the sawdust and shavings is to set up an altar, such as we have in our own backyard – a piece of an old boiler about two feet in diameter and two and a half feet high, in which we currently burn all rubbish which is not available for quick composting into a fertilizer.
Lime on Sandy Soil.
Do you think 500 pounds of lime per acre would help a sandy soil which has not been enriched by pasturing or legumes? Of course, we would not apply the lime until next fall before plowing.
Lime is not usually called for in a sandy soil, which probably requires direct fertilizing with stable or commercial fertilizers.
Lime on Alfalfa.
What effect does putting lime on land have in holding moisture? Also, will it pay to put it on a large field of alfalfa? The land is adobe. I can get slaked lime for the hauling, distance being about five miles.
The lime will make the land more friable and, therefore, less disposed to bake and lose moisture by evaporation. Alfalfa is hungry for lime and is generally advanced by the application of it.
Fertilizing Alfalfa.
Can new cow manure be put on alfalfa? Is not the best way to use the above as a fertilizer in form of liquid being run from barn via pipes to a settling-tank and from there via irrigation ditches to the land to be irrigated? What is the best way to get rid of cow manure so as to keep a barn sanitary and the place free from stench?
Cow manure can be used to advantage on alfalfa. Corrals can be cleaned up and the manure spread at the beginning of the rainy season. During the winter the manure can be spread as it is produced and very good results will be noticed in the growth during the following summer. It is perfectly rational for you to use the liquid fertilizer as you propose in connection with irrigation water, but this is not generally done because of the cost of the outfit and the labor of handling the material in that way. The best way to keep a barn sanitary is to keep it clean, removing all the waste matter to a considerable distance daily, allowing nothing to accumulate, and have the stable drainage arranged so that the stable can be frequently flushed out into good drainage outlets, carrying the water to grass or alfalfa land if possible.
Fertilizing Corn.
We are going to plant about 20 acres to corn on a sidehill and intend to put some fertilizer on, but want to give it to the corn only. Would it be a good plan, after we have marked out our rows, to scatter some fertilizer in these marks and put the corn right on top of it?
We take it you ask about the use of a readily soluble commercial fertilizer. If so, you can do as you propose, being careful not to use too much. The operation of planting will distribute the fertilizer through enough soil if the application is not too heavy. The effect will depend something upon what showers you get after planting.
Scrap Iron as a Fertilizer.
Is cast or other iron in small pieces plowed into the land of any benefit to trees as a fertilizer? If so, what would be the value as such per 100 pounds? Junk dealers sometimes offer 25 cents per 100 pounds. If it has any value as a fertilizer, I am satisfied it must be worth four times that price. We pay three cents a pound for sulphate of iron as a fertilizer. Of course, it is a salt and dissolves quickly, therefore, I believe cast iron, even if it works slowly, has some value, and at the same time farmers can clean up and get rid of a lot of rubbish.
In most cases the California soils are sufficiently supplied with iron by nature. Iron scraps have a little and remote value because they are so slowly available by the process of rust disintegration. It might, therefore, be worth while for farmers to bury such scrap iron as accumulates on the place below the reach of the cultivating tools. But it would not be profitable to buy iron scraps at junk dealers’ price, nor would it be profitable to haul this material any long distance, even if it could be had for nothing.
Kelp as a Fertilizer.
Are there ill effects from using sea kelp as a fertilizer for orange trees?
There is no ill effect. Sea kelp has been dragged from the beaches at low tide, partly dried and used, for centuries perhaps, as field fertilizer for all sorts of crops in Europe, and for decades, to some extent, on the New England coast. The dangerous substance in it would seem to indicate that that is not present in sufficient quantity to cause trouble. The great difficulty lies in securing and transporting the substance, for less than its fertilizing equivalent can be obtained by purchase of other more concentrated manures.
Applying Thomas Phosphate.
When is the best time to apply Thomas phosphate slag on orchard land?
As Thomas phosphate is slowly soluble, it can be applied at any time during the rainy season without danger of loss, and for the same fact, it should be applied early during the rainy season in order to be available to trees during the following summer’s growth. It ought, perhaps, to be added that other forms of phosphate have largely displaced slag during the last few years in the United States, other forms being more available.
Sugar Factory Lime for Fertilizing.
Is the lime from a sugar factory a good fertilizer for either oranges or walnuts; if so, about what amount to the acre would you recommend?
If your land needs lime or if it is heavy and needs to be more friable, or if you have reason to think that it may be soured by exclusion of air or by excessive use of fermenting manures, the refuse lime you speak of will do as a corrective just as other lime does, though, perhaps, not so actively. Beyond that there is nothing of great value in it. You can use two or three applications of 500 pounds to the acre without overdoing it – if your land needs it at all.
Nitrate With Stable Manure.
I am going to plant about 2000 plants of rhubarb. I intend to put some cow and horse manure under the plants as a fertilizer, but I do not think I will have enough for all the plants, so I bought some nitrate of lime, with the intention of mixing the cow and horse manure with the lime nitrate, which I thought would allow me to spread the manure much thinner and I could cover more surface. Now I am not sure but the nitrate of lime will burn the manure if mixed with it.
You can mix either nitrate of lime or nitrate of soda with the stable manure as you propose; in fact, it is frequently done. These nitrates are neutral salts and do not act on manure as caustic lime or wood ashes would do. They are quite content to keep along without kicking their neighbors. But, of course, the more nitrate you add the more careful you must be about using too much of the mixture, and as for putting manure under any plant, at spring planting particular, it is dangerous business.
Nitrate of Soda.
How shall I apply nitrate of soda as fertilizer for roses and other flowers and lawns during the summer months?
One has to be very careful in the use of nitrate of soda not to use too much and not to apply it unevenly, so that too much is brought in contact with the roots of particular plants. From one to two hundred pounds an acre evenly distributed is the usual prescription for nitrate of soda, although in the case of bearing orange trees considerably larger amounts have been successfully used. This would be at the rate of about one ounce to one square yard of surface. It would be a safe application to begin with and could be increased a little on the basis of observation of results. Of course, the application should be accompanied by copious irrigation in order to dissolve and distribute the substance.
Fertilizing Strawberries.
I have half an acre of strawberries which will fruit their second season this spring, and half an acre set last month. I had intended to use nitrate of soda on them, but was talking to a friend who told me it would kill my soil. That the first year it would produce an enormous crop and the next year I couldn’t raise anything. Which would be better to use here, stable manure or commercial fertilizer?
It is true that nitrate of soda is a stimulant of plants, and by rendering soil fertility immediately available may seem to reduce the supply later, and yet it is a most available forcing fertilizer if used with great caution, not over 200 pounds to the acre evenly scattered over the whole surface or a less amount, of course, if confined to particular areas. If used in excess it may actually kill the plants. Still nitrate of soda is being used actively and intelligently by nearly all growers of plants and must be counted on the whole a valuable agency. If you can get stable manure, nothing is better as a complete plant food. Application to strawberries must be made at the close of the season, rubbish scraped away and manure applied and allowed to stand on the surface during the early rains, being worked into the soil during the rainy season. If the soil is light, sandy loam, too much coarse material must be avoided. Therefore, well-rotted manure is important on such soils while on a heavy soil coarser material may be used to advantage if applied early in the rainy season. If you have no well-rotted manure, a complete commercial fertilizer will give best results.
Late Applications of Nitrate.
I have some prune trees which blossomed some time ago and the prunes are already set, and of small size. Would you recommend me to use an application of, say 100 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda, applied immediately, or is it a little too late in the season to get the desired result?
It would be perfectly safe to use 100 pounds of nitrate of soda to the acre well distributed now; in fact, you could safely use twice as much, but we doubt if you would get any benefit from it unless you should irrigate, for there is no reason to expect showers that would have penetrating powers enough to carry the nitrate any appreciable distance into the soil. Of course, the nitrate could be plowed or cultivated in to a considerable depth, but that would probably result in losing moisture by deep opening or turning, which would do more harm than any gain which the nitrate produces, if it were to become available. Our judgment would be, then, that it is too late for any benefit to accrue unless the land can be irrigated.
Charcoal is a Medicine, Not a Food.
Recently a lumberyard burned, leaving quite a quantity of charcoal. I have a lot 50 x 150 feet in rhubarb. Would the charcoal be of any service on that lot as a fertilizer? I now have it well fertilized with horse manure, but would like to use the charcoal if it would be of any material assistance to the plants.
Charcoal is of no value as a fertilizer. It is practically indestructible in the soil. In fact, they are digging up now charcoal in the graves of ancient Egyptians, who departed this life five thousand years ago. Charcoal has corrective influence in absorbing some substances which might make the soil sour or otherwise inhospitable to plants. It has been found desirable sometimes to mix a certain amount of charcoal with soil used in potting plants for the purpose of preventing such trouble. The only way to make your charcoal of any value as a fertilizer would be to set it on fire again and maintain the burning until it was reduced to ashes, which are a source of potash and, therefore, desirable, but it will probably cost more than the product of potash will be worth.
Humus Burning Out.
I would like to know whether or not dry-plowing land, in preparation for sowing oats for hay, injures the soil? I have heard that dry plowing tends to wear out the soil, as the soil is exposed to the sun a long time before harrowing. I have been dry-plowing my land to kill the, weeds, but had a light crop of hay this year.
There is believed to be what is called “a burning out of humus,” by long exposure of the soil to the intense heat of our interior districts. It is probable that the reduction of humus is due more to the lack of effort to maintain the supply than to the actual destruction of it by culture methods. Such a little time as might intervene between dry plowing and sowing could not be charged with any appreciable destruction of soil fertility. It is altogether more probable that your hay crop was less from loss of moisture than from loss of other plant food; and it is desirable to harrow a dry plowing, not so much to save the soil from the action of the atmosphere, as to conserve the moisture, which, as you know, will rise from below and will rapidly be evaporated from the undisturbed bases of your furrows. Therefore, we should harrow a dry plowing as soon as practicable, but with particular reference to the moisture supply rather than to other forms of fertility.
Straw for Humus.
Do you consider straw good to plow under for humus, and which kind, wheat, oat, or barley straw, is best?
Straw, by its decay in the soil, produces humus and, therefore acts in the same way just as does the decay of other forms of vegetation. As, however, straw is less easily decomposed than fresh vegetation, it is less valuable and may be troublesome by acquiring a greater amount of moisture by interfering with cultivation or by tending to dry out the soil to the injury of other plants. If the soil is heavy and moisture abundant, straw may be desirable, while in the case of a light soil and scant moisture, may be injurious. There is no particular difference in the straw of the different grains from this point of view.
The Best Legume for Cover Crop.
What would you advise to sow as a crop to plow under? When should it be sowed, and when plowed under?
The best crop for green-manuring in any locality is the one which will make the best growth when surplus moisture is available for it, and when its growth can be undertaken with least interference with irrigation, cultivation and other orchard operation. Generally in California, such a crop can be most conveniently grown during the rainy season, but in some parts of the State where irrigation water is available, a summer growth can be procured with very satisfactory results; so that we are now growing in California both wintergrowing legumes, like field peas, vetches, burr clover, etc., which are hardy enough to grow in spite of the light frosts which may prevail, and are also growing summer legumes which thrive under high temperature, like cowpeas and other members of the bean family, and for which water can be spared without injury to the fruit trees which share the application of the land with them. The plants which are worth trying are burr clover, common or Oregon vetch, Canadian field pea, and the common California or Niles pea. Whichever one of these makes the best winter growth so that it can be plowed under early in the spring, say in February or March, while there is still plenty of moisture in the soil for its decay, without robbing the trees or rendering the soil difficult of summer cultivation, is the plant for you to use largely. All these plants should be sown in California valleys and foothills, as soon as there is moisture enough from rainfall to warrant you in believing they will catch and continue to grow. If the land is light they can be put in with a cultivator and plowed under deeply in the spring, as stated. If the land is heavy, probably a shallow plowing would be better to begin with.
Cowpeas for Cover Crop.
I planted cowpeas between peach trees which I have kept irrigated; when should they be plowed under?
Cowpeas will be killed by frost in most places and should, therefore, be plowed in this fall whenever you have a large growth of green stuff and the ground gets moist enough so that the trees will not be endangered by drying out of the soil, which is likely to occur after plowing in coarse material, unless the soil is kept moist by rain or otherwise.
Garden Peas for Green Manure.
Would it be possible to plant the Yorkshire Hero pea in on orange grove as late as December 25 and get a crop from the peas? Would this pea add much to the fertility of the soil?
You can sow any garden peas as late as December 25, if the ground is in good condition and the temperature not too low. They are grown as a winter crop except when the ground freezes. You would not get as much good for the grove by growing these peas for the market as you would by plowing the whole growth under green, but you certainly will get advantage from the decomposition of the pea straw and of the root growth of the plant.
Grass for Green Manuring.
I wish to sow this fall some green grass to be plowed in next spring to improve the soil of part of my land. I read for that purpose a bulletin I had from the government, but the conditions are so different here in California that I am very much puzzled which kind to select.
There is no grass which grows quickly enough to be worth seeding in the fall for spring plowing. It is a good deal better to use a grain, either barley or rye, for the seed is cheap, the growth quick and you can get a good deal of green stuff to plow under. Legumes are, of course, better because of their ability to absorb atmospheric nitrogen, but any plant which makes a large green growth is good, and it is better to have a heavy weight of wild vegetation than to have a light growth of an introduced legume.
Manure with a Clover Crop.
I have an old apple orchard in which I intend to sow burr clover. In order to get the clover to grow I know that I shall have to use fertilizer of some kind and this is what I want your advice about.
If you can get it, use stable manure at the time of sowing the clover seed. Stable manure alone will restore the humus and overcome the rebellious behavior of the soil. Possibly you cannot secure sufficient quantities of it. In that case a little with the burr clover seed will give the plant a good start, or use a complete fertilizer to secure the growth of a legume in the freest and quickest way.
Fenugreek as a Cover Crop.
Fenugreek has been recommended to be as a nitrogen-gathering plant, but I cannot find information as to the amount of nitrogen it gathers in its roots and tops, nor the amount of crop per acre.
Fenugreek is a good nitrogen gatherer and is desirable for green manuring wherever you can get a good growth of the plant. You can count it worth as much as peas, vetches, etc., if you can get as much growth of the plant. It is most largely used in the lemon district near Santa Paula. The best way to proceed would be to try a small area of all the nitrogen gathering plants of which you can get the seed easily, and determine by your own observation which makes the best growth under your conditions.
Improvement of Cementing Soils.
I would like some advice in handling the “cementy” gravel soil. Manure is beneficial in loosening up the soil, but there is not enough available. Would the Canadian field pea make a satisfactory growth here if sown as soon as the rains begin? I would try to grow either peas or vetch and plow under in February or March and then set trees or vines on the land.
The way to mellow your soil is certainly to use stable manure or to plow under green stuff, as you propose. This increases the humus which the soil needs and imparts all the desirable characters and qualities which humus carries. You ought to get a good growth of Canadian field peas or common California field peas or the common Oregon vetch by sowing in the fall, as soon as the ground can be moistened by rain or irrigation, and, if the season is favorable, secure enough growth for plowing under in February to make it worth while. Be careful, however, not to defer planting trees and vines too late in order to let the green stuff grow, because this would hazard the success of your planting by the reduction of the moisture supply during the following summer by the amount which might be required to keep the covered-in stuff decaying, plus loss of moisture from the fact that the covered stuff prevented you from getting thorough surface cultivation during the dry season. For these reasons one is to be careful about planting on covered-in stuff which has not had a chance to decay. This consideration, of course, becomes negligible if you have water for summer irrigation, but if you expect to get the growth of your trees and vines with the rainfall of the previous winter, be careful not to waste it in either of the ways which have been indicated, and above all, do not plant trees and vines too late. Theoretically, your position is perfect. The application of it, however, requires some care and judgment. Rather than plant too late, you had better grow the green stuff the winter after the trees have been planted.
Needs Organic Matter.
I have what I believe to be decomposed sandstone. Many rocks are still projecting out of land which I blast and break up. The soil works freely when moist or wet, but when dry it takes a pick-axe to dig it up; a plow won’t touch it. Among my young fruit trees I tried to grow peas, beans, carrots and beets, and although I freely irrigated them during the summer and fall, and although I planted at different times, my peas and beans have been a total failure, and the beets, carrots and onions nearly so. For years the land has grown nothing but weeds.
Your soil needs organic matter which would make it more easy of cultivation, more retentive of moisture, and in every way better suited to the growth of plants. Liberal applications of stable manure would produce best effects. No commercial fertilizer would begin to be so desirable. If you can dig into the soil large amounts of weeds or other vegetable waste material, you would be proceeding along the same line, but stable manure is better on account of its greater fertilizing content. You ought to be thankful that the soil has spunk enough to grow weeds. The Immanent Creator is still doing the best he can to help you out; take a hand yourself on the same line.
Two Legumes in a Year.
I have land on which I wish to plant to fruits, and I wish to build up the soil all I can, by planting cover crops and plowing under. What would be the best to plant this fall, to be plowed under next spring, and to plant again next spring to plow under in the fall? I will not be able to plant any trees before next fall or the following spring.
Get in vetches as soon as the ground is in shape in the fall. Plow them under early in the spring and close the covering and compact the green stuff by running a straight disk over the ground after plowing. This will help decay and save moisture. Follow with cow peas as soon as you are out of the frost, disking in the seed so as not to disturb the stuff previously covered in. Do not wait to put under the winter growth until it is safe to put on the cowpeas, for, if you do, you will lose so much moisture that the cowpeas will not amount to much.
Handling Orchard Soil.
We average about 35 inches of rainfall. With this heavy rainfall, is there any advantage to be gained by early plowing and clean cultivation right through the winter? Would such plowing and cultivation result in any serious loss of plant food? Would you advise an early or late application of nitrogen, such as nitrate or guano? If there is any loss from an early application, can it be determined by any means?
The old policy of clean winter cultivation has been largely abandoned. Nearly everyone is trying to grow something green during the rainy season to plow under toward the end of it. Even those who do not sow legumes for this purpose are plowing under as good a weed cover as they can get. This improves the soil both in plant food and in friability, which promotes summer pulverization and saves moisture from summer evaporation. Much less early plowing is done than formerly unless it be shallow to get in the seed for the cover crop; the deeper plowing being done to put it under. Guano can be applied earlier in the winter than nitrate, which can be turned in with the cover crop, while the former may be sown with the seed to promote the winter growth. Whether you are losing your nitrate or not the chemist might determine for you by before-and-after analyses. If you are a good observer you may detect loss by absence of the effects you desire to secure.
Soaking Seeds.
Do you think it a good practice to soak seeds before planting?
It is more desirable with some seeds than others and when the ground is rather dry or the sowing time rather late, than when sowing in moister ground or earlier in the rainy season, when heavy rains are to be expected. Soaking is simply a way to be sure that the seed covering has ample moisture for softening and the kernel has what it requires for awakening it germ and meeting its needs. The soil may not always have enough to spare for these purposes and germination may be delayed or started and arrested. Ordinarily seeds can be helped by soaking a few hours in water at ordinary temperatures. Some very hard seeds like those of acacia trees, etc., are helped by hot water – even near the boiling point.
Irrigating Palms.
My palms are quite small, but they do not seem to grow; they seem to be drying up.
The growth of palms is proportional to the amount of soil moisture available, providing it is not in excess and not too alkaline. Some palms are quite drouth-resisting, but it is a mistake to think of a palm as a desert plant and try to make a desert for it. A young palm, especially, needs regular and ample water supply until it gets well established. Your plants may be drying up, or they may have had too much frost or too much alkali. If they are not too far gone, they will come out later if you give them regular moisture and cultivation.
Water from Wells or Streams.
One of our neighbors insists that water from a well is, in the long run, very hard on the land, and that irrigation water is much to be preferred.
There is no characteristic and permanent difference between waters from wells and waters from streams so far as irrigation is concerned. The character depends upon the sources from which both are derived. Some wells may carry too much mineral matter in the form of salt, alkali, etc., and some stream waters sometimes carry considerable alkali. For this reason some wells may be better than streams and some streams better than wells. There is no general rule in the matter. Your neighbor may be right as applied to your location, and may know from his experience that the well water carries too much undesirable material. That could only be determined by analysis, and the analysis must be made when the water is rather low, because during the rainy season, or soon after it, the water may have less mineral impurity than later in the season when it may be more concentrated.
Shall He Irrigate or Cultivate?
Our soil is of an excellent quality, and I feel if the moisture were properly conserved by suitable methods it could be made to produce fruits or some other very much more profitable than from hay and grain crops.
Whether you can grow deciduous fruits successfully without irrigation depends not only upon how well you conserve the moisture by cultivation, but also whether the total rainfall conveys water enough, even if as much as possible of it is conserved. Again, you might find that thorough cultivation will give you satisfactory young trees, but would not conserve moisture enough for the same trees when they come into bearing. This proposition should be studied locally. If you can find trees in the vicinity which do give satisfactory fruit under the rainfall, you would have a practical demonstration which would be more trustworthy than any forecast which could be prepared upon theoretical grounds.
Condensation for Irrigation.
If a circular funnel of waterproofed building paper, or some better cheap device, were fastened about the base of the tree in such a manner as to catch and concentrate most of the drippings from the leaves, and that water made to run down through a tube leading a suitable depth into the earth, it seems to me that the number of foggy nights that occur in many localities during the season might thus supply ample water for a tree’s needs.
The probability is that water would not be secured in sufficient quantities to serve any notable irrigation purposes, or if the fogs were so thick as to yield water enough, the sunshine would be too scant for the success of the plant. Put your idea to the test and see how much water you could get from a tree of definite leaf area, which could be readily estimated.
Winter Irrigation.
Last May I irrigated my prune trees for the first time, again during the first two weeks of last December. If no rain should come within the next two weeks, would you advise me to irrigate then? Should I plow before irrigating, or should irrigation be done before the buds swell?
Unless your ground is deeply wet down by the rains which are now coming, irrigate it once, and do not plow before irrigating. The point is to get as much water into the ground and as much grass growth on top as you can before the spring plowing. Never mind about the swelling of the buds. The trees will not be affected injuriously by getting a good supply of winter water into the soil. There might be some danger with trees which bloom late in the spring, like citrus trees or olives, because by that time the ground has become warm and the roots very active. At the blooming time of deciduous trees less danger would threaten, because there is less difference between the temperature of the ground and the water which you were then applying from a running stream. If you irrigated in furrows and, therefore, did not collect the water in mass, its temperature would rise by contact with air, which would be another reason for not apprehending trouble from it.
How Much Water for Oranges?
How much water would you consider absolutely necessary to carry to full-bearing citrus trees an clay loam-that is, how many acres to a miner’s inch, figuring nine gallons per minute to the inch?
It would, of course, depend upon the age of the trees, as old bearing trees may require twice as much as young trees. We would estimate for bearing trees, on such retentive soil, 30-acre inches per year applied in the way best for the soil.
Damping-off.
My orange seed-bed stack has “damp-off.” Same say “too much water;” “not enough water;” “put on lime;” etc. I use a medium amount of water and more of my stack is affected than that of any other grower. One man has kept his well soaked since planting, and only about six plants were affected. Another has used but little water, keeping them very dry; he has lost none.
Damping-off is due to a fungus which attacks the tender growth when there is too much surface moisture. It may be produced by rather a small amount of water, providing the soil is heavy and the water is not rapidly absorbed and distributed. On the other hand, a lighter soil taking water more easily may grow plants without damping-off, even though a great deal more water has been used than on the heavier soil. Too much shade, which prevents the sun from drying the surface soil, is also likely to produce damping-off, therefore, one has to provide just the right amount of shade and the right amount of ventilation through circulation of the air, etc. The use of sand on the surface of a heavier soil may save plants from damping-off, because the sand passes the water quickly and dries, while a heavier surface soil would remain soggy. Lime may be of advantage if not used in too great quantities because it disintegrates the surface of the soil and helps to produce a dryness which is desirable. Keeping the surface dry enough and yet providing the seedlings with moisture for a free and satisfactory growth is a matter which must be determined by experience and good judgment.
Irrigated or Non-Irrigated Trees.
Is there any difference between the same kind of fruit trees grown without irrigation and with it?
It does not make a particle of difference, if the trees are grown well and matured well. Overirrigated trees or trees growing on land naturally moist may be equally bad. Excessively large trees and stunted trees are both bad; with irrigation you may be more likely to get the first kind; without it you are more likely to get the latter. There is, however, a difference between a stunted tree and a wellgrown small tree, and as a rule medium-sized trees are most desirable than overgrown trees. The mere fact of irrigation does not make either good trees or bad trees: it is the man at the ditch.
Too Little Rather Than Too Much Water.
Looking through an orchard of 18-year-old prune trees on riverbottom land, I found a number of the trees had died. A well bored in the orchard strikes water at about 15 feet. I find no apparent reason far the death of these trees unless it is that the tap roots reach this body of water and are injuriously affected thereby.
We do not believe that water at 15 feet depth could possibly kill a prune tree. It is more likely that owing to spotted condition of the soil, gravel should occur in different places, and with gravel three or four feet below the surface a tree might actually die although there was plenty of water at a depth of 15 feet. There is more danger that the trees died from lack of water than from an oversupply of it, and it is quite likely also that you could pump and irrigate to advantage large trees which did not seem to be up to the standard of the whole place, as manifested by lack of bearing, smallness of leaves, which would be apt to turn yellow too early in the season.
Possibly Too Much Water.
My trees are four years old and are as follows: Peach, fig, loquat, apple, apricot and plum. Last year they had plenty of blossoms, but I got no fruit. I always watered them twice a week in summer.
You are watering your trees too much; stimulating their growth too much, and this, while a tree is young, is apt to postpone its fruit bearing. Give the soil a good soaking about once a mouth, unless you are situated in a sandy or gravelly soil, in which more frequent applications may be necessary.
Too Little Water After Dynamiting.
In planting almonds on a dry hard soil I dynamited the holes and ran about 200 gallons of water into each hole before planting. About 95 per cent of the trees started growth, but seem now to be in a somewhat dormant state, the leaves of some being slightly wilted. All the trees were watered since planting. I have been told I made a mistake by throwing water in the dynamited holes. When the holes were watered the ground was very dry and the water disappeared in a few minutes.
You have used too little water rather than too much. Dry soil of fine texture can suck up an awful lot of moisture, which can be drawn off so far, or so widely distributed, that there will not be enough for the immediate vicinity of the roots. The dynamiting tended to deep drying and necessitated much more irrigation.
Irrigating Young Trees.
We have just put out 50 acres to walnuts. The party who put them out wants me to have some boxes or troughs made 15 inches long with a 3-inch opening, and put in on the slant so as to have the water hit the roots.
Many such arrangements of boxes, perforated cans, pieces of tile, etc., have been proposed during the last fifty years in California for accomplishing the purposes which are mentioned in your letter, and all such devices have been abandoned as undesirable. They may bring the water to bear upon a lower level as intended, but the free access of air and the fact that, with their use, proper stirring of the soil is neglected renders them undesirable. The best way to water young trees singly is to make a trench around tree, but not allowing the water to touch the bark, applying the water and then thoroughly hoe when the surface soil comes into proper condition. Young trees treated in this way, with the surface always in good condition, do not require much water. The amount depends, of course, upon whether the soil is naturally porous or retentive.
Underground Irrigation.
How extensively used and with what results is the underground tile system for irrigation used, and what especial character of soil is it best suited for?
Not extensively at all; in fact, if there is an acre of it which has been for three years in continuous and successful operation, it has escaped us. After forty years of trial of different systems, none has demonstrated value enough to warrant its use. Theoretically, they are excellent; in practice they are defective. Surface application in different ways, according to the nature of the soil, accompanied with thorough cultivation, is the only thing that at the present time promises satisfactory results, except that where the land suits it, irrigation by underflow from ditches on higher elevations is being successfully used on small areas in the foothills. For gardens the most promising arrangement seems to be a laying of drain tiles rather near the surface, which shall be taken up each year, cleaned of silt and plant roots, and relaid along the rows before planting; but this calls for too much labor, except perhaps for amateur gardeners. The kind of soil best suited to such a system is a medium loam which will distribute water sufficiently to avoid saturation and air-exclusion. Both a heavy soil which does this, and a coarse sandy loam which takes water down out of reach of shallow-rooting plants too rapidly and lacks capillarity to draw it up again, are ill adapted to underground distribution.
Irrigation of Potatoes.
Will you kindly tell me when is the proper time to irrigate potatoes, before they bloom or after they bloom, and do they require much water?
It should seldom be necessary to irrigate potatoes after the bloom appears. Potatoes do not need much water, and there is danger of giving them too much. It is absolutely essential to see that there is no check in the growth of the plant, for once the growth is at all checked by drought, and irrigation is done, a new lot of potatoes start and new and old growth of tubers are worthless. Give what irrigation is needed and make cultivation do the rest. The secret of success is keeping the soil continually at the right moisture, so that the first growth of the plant may continue regularly until the tubers are brought to maturity.
Irrigated or Non-Irrigated Apples.
Where soil and climatic conditions are favorable to the raising of apples, what effect has irrigation an them?
The commercial product of California apples is chiefly made upon deep soils in districts of ample rainfall so that the fruit can be perfected and the trees maintained in thrift by thorough cultivation and without irrigation. In the foothill and mountain regions, however, apple trees are irrigated and first-class fruit produced by the process. There is no particular virtue in the absence of irrigation nor in the presence of it. All that the tree requires is that the moisture supply should be adequate and timely. There are undoubtedly many apple orchards grown without irrigation where a little water during the latter part of the summer would be a great advantage for the perfection of winter varieties.
Irrigating Walnuts-Checks or Furrows.
Which is the best method to irrigate a tract of 25 acres of sandy sediment sail, nearly level, preparatory to planting walnuts?
By all means use the furrow system of irrigation unless your land should be so light that the water would sink in the furrows and distribution would be very unequal without covering the whole surface as is done by filling checks. When the land cannot be covered well by the furrow system, checking is resorted to, but not otherwise.
Summer and Fall Irrigation.
Is it desirable to irrigate peach trees in the fall after the crop is gathered?
The popularity of autumn irrigation for peaches in the San Joaquin valley is based upon the experience of the last few years where trees that have been allowed to become dormant too early in the season and have been weakened by a long period of soil-drought during the autumn, have cast their blossoms or manifested other indications of weakness during the following year. It is thoroughly rational to apply irrigation to hold the leaves and secure their service in the strengthening of bloom buds for the following year by irrigation. Such irrigation should be applied immediately after the fruit is gathered or even before that, if the yellowing of the leaves indicates lack of strength in the tree and the frequency and amount of irrigation during the autumn depends upon whether the soil will hold moisture enough to carry the tree to its proper period of dormancy. This may be determined by the aspect of the trees and by digging down two or three feet to see whether the soil carries moisture which is likely to be sufficient until the coming of the rains. Whether late irrigation will be necessary is also determinable by the character of the soil; on close retentive soil it may not be necessary, while on loose, sandy or gravelly soil it may be essential to the life of the tree. One has to settle all these matters by judgment and not by recipe.
Fertilizers in Irrigation Water.
Do you recommend putting fertilizers in irrigating water? I am about to water the orchard and am thinking of putting some nitrate in the water.
You can distribute any soluble fertilizer by dissolving it in irrigation water, but few have ever done it because of the difficulties of getting equal strength in running water. It is much easier to distribute on land before irrigation.
Irrigating Alfalfa on Heavy Soils.
How does alfalfa succeed on adobe and soils slightly modified from it? Does irrigation work well an adobe planted to alfalfa?
If you get the irrigation adjusted so that the soil shall not be water-logged and so that the water does not stand on the surface when the sun is hot, you can get plenty of good alfalfa on a heavy soil. Irrigation on adobe soils must be done more frequently and a less amount at each application to guard against the dangers named above.
How Much Water for Crops?
Same of my land is heavy but the most of it is light soil. I want alfalfa mostly, same potatoes and grain, and later oranges, olives and other fruit. How much water in inches or acre feet is required per acre per year far the irrigation of it?
The amount of water required to grow different crops depends upon the crop itself, upon the time of the year in which it grows, the character of the soil, etc. There is no such thing as stating how much water would be used for all crops on all soils, and at all times of the year. The range would be from, say, ten acre inches for irrigation of deciduous fruits, which need moisture supplementary to rainfall; twice or thrice as much for citrus fruit trees; four or five times as much for alfalfa where a full number of cuttings are required. These are, of course, only rough estimates which would have to be modified according to local rainfall and soil character. Water should be applied frequently enough to keep the lower soil amply moist. A color of moisture is not enough and a muddy condition results from too much water. One has to learn to judge when there is moisture enough, and a good test of this to take up a handful of soil, squeeze it and open the hand. If the ball retains its shape it is probably moist enough. If it has a tendency to crack upon opening the hand, it is too dry. This test, of course, is somewhat affected by the character of the soil, but one has to form the best judgment possible how far allowance has to be made for that.
Sewage Irrigation.
What is the usefulness or harmfulness of the outflow from septic tanks for use an fruits and vegetables?
There is no question as to the suitability of the affluent from a septic tank for irrigation purposes. Waste waters are sometimes injurious when they are loaded with antiseptics, but the septic tank will not work unless it has a chance for free fermentation in the absence of antiseptics, therefore, this objection against waste water does not hold with the out-flow from septic tanks. It has the advantage over straight sewage irrigation because fermentation in the septic tank is believed to free the water from many dangerous germs, though not all of them.
Creamery Wastes for Irrigation.
Will the waste water from a creamery, pumped into a ditch and used for irrigating sandy loam orchard land, or nursery stack, in any way be injurious to the land or the trees?
It will depend upon the amounts of salt and alkaline washing materials which it carries. This would be governed, of course, by the amount of fresh water used for dilution in the irrigation ditch. There are two ways to determine the question. One would be to make an analysis of a sample of the water taken when it contains the largest amount of these materials after the dilution with ditch water. Another way would be to plant some corn, squashes, barley and other plants, so that they would be freely irrigated by the water during one growing season. This would be rather better than an analysis, because everybody could see whether the plants grew well or not, and would be apt to be better convinced by what they see than by an opinion which a chemist might give on the basis of an analysis. The use of this water on a sandy loam would obviously be less injurious than upon a heavy retentive soil.
House Waste Water.
Is it feasible to use wash water, etc., for watering fruit trees and vegetables?
Kitchen sink water is not desirable because of its great content of grease, but wash-tub and bathtub water are good. Strong soapsuds should be mixed with considerable rinsing water to escape excessive content of alkali. Run the water in hoe-ditches, along the rows of vegetables, hoeing thoroughly as soon as the land hoes well, changing the runs of water so that the soil does not become compacted but is kept friable and lively.
Draining a Wet Spot.
I have a spot of about an acre that in a wet winter becomes very miry and as a rule is wet up to July. Can I put in a ditch two and one-half feet deep and fill in with small stones for a foot or a foot and a half, until I can afford to buy tiles?
Drains made of small stones are often quickly filled with soil and stop running. However, it will work for a time, and such drains were formerly largely employed in Eastern situations when cash was scant and stones abundant. Dig the ditch bottom to a depth of not less than 3 or 3 1/2 feet, then put in the stones deep enough not to be interfered with by plowing. If you have flat stones you can make quite a water-way with them and fill in with small stones above it.
Part V. Live Stock and Dairy
Legal Milk House.
What is a legal milk house in California?
The State dairy law says little concerning the construction or equipment of the milk house. It says that the house, or room, shall be properly screened to exclude flies and insects, and is to be used for the purpose of cooling, mixing, canning and keeping the milk. The milk room shall not be used for any other purpose than milk handling and storing, and must be 100 feet or more distant from hogpen, horse stable, cesspool or similar accumulation of filth, and must be over 50 feet from cow stalls or places where milking is done. In regard to the size of the milk room and equipment, nothing is said provided it is large enough for the milk to be handled conveniently. Concrete milk houses, however, had best have smooth-finished floors and walls. The interior of the milk house is also to be whitewashed once in two years or oftener. If milk from the dairy is to go to a city, the requirements will be more severe than provided in the State law, and must conform to the ordinances of the city to which the milk is to be sent.
Cure for a Self-Milker.
What shall I do for a young cow that milks herself?
Fit a harness consisting of two light side slats and a girth and neck strap in such a way that the cow cannot reach her udder. Unless she is particularly valuable for milk, it will save you a lot of worry to fix her up for beef.
Strong Milk.
How can I overcome strong milk in a three-quarter Jersey cow? I had been feeding alfalfa hay with two quarts alfalfa meal and one quart middlings twice a day. Thinking the strong milk came from the feed I changed to oat hay and alfalfa with a soft feed of bran and middlings.
There is nothing in either ration that could cause strong milk, nor will a change of feed likely benefit the trouble. If the cow is in good physical condition the trouble probably comes from the entrance of bacteria during or after milking. Thoroughly clean up around the milking stable, followed by a disinfection of the premises. Have the flanks, udder and teats of the cow thoroughly cleaned before milking and scald all utensils used for the milk. Harmful bacteria may have gotten well established on the premises and the entrance of a few is enough to seriously affect the flavor of the milk. Once the trouble is checked it can be kept down with the usual sanitary methods.
Separator as Milk Purifier.
I have a neighbor who contends that a cream separator purifies the milk that passes through it. I say that it does not purify the milk. I agree that it does take out some of the heavy particles of dirt and filth, but that it cannot take out what is already in solution with the milk.
The purification naturally cannot be very great, and if milk is produced