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Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James), 1848-1923

"One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered"

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.


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