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.
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