The herald., 1893-06-25
NOTES ABOUT THE RANCHES,
Typical Facts About Southern
California Farms.
Matters of Interest to Horticulturists
and Agriculturists.
Should Fruit Trees Be Pruned ?-Why
Fruit Drops-Something About
Olive Culture-Miscel-
laneons Matters.

this question because there seems so
much difference of opinion on this very
point, and with your permission will
give few reasons why I think the
lemon as an orchard bearing tree should
be pruned.
came into possession OF lemon
grove in June, 1890; it had then been
set six years, and had very fair care SO
far as plowing, cultivating, irrigating,
etc., but very little pruning. The vari-
eties were Lisbon, Eureka, Genoa, TO-
gether with a half dozen Villa Frsncas.
The party of whom 1 purchased was
a fnicky sort OF o fellow, that
believed severely in the let
alone poncy; consequently the trees
had been. allowed to grow about
at will. And il any OF your readers
have ever had anything to do with the
lemon that has not been shaped for sew
eral seasons, probably they will under
stand what they were like. l thought
knew something of the ert of pruning
fruit trees, vines, ETC., having given it
great deal of thought as we'll as practice
on my own grounds, few miles up the
Hudson from New York city, but un-
fortunately very little of that branch
OF the pruning art wac confined to the
lemon; therefore, as a new beginner,
had to learn that part OF the citrus fruit
industry.
made it point to 60 to about half
dozen OF the experts of this section for
pointers as to the best time, mode and
other methods, and finally had the
same number of opinions, which left
the thing more muddled than before
Many OF the trees were full OF dead
scraggy spurs, and others had suckers
one, two and three years old that had
started out from the main branches,
shooting straight up through the tree,
often 10 or more feet in length, with
few branches and leaves way up on top,
and often several fruits in their various
stages of development, catching every
breeze, swaying backward and forward
as though the exerslse WAS necessary for
the proper health and development of
the product. | found on gathering the
fruit that had reached their proper sizes,
the epscimen9 on the fish-pole like
branches were, as a rule, rough and ir-
regular in shape, skin thick, hated or
corrugated, and quite generally seedy,
while those that come from the lighter
growth and from the spurs closer to the
larger wood were invariably smooth
skinned, more rounded in shape and
more even in size.
| was told it would not do to prune
heavily, especially the Eureka and
Genoa, because they were outward bear
ers and the results Of pruning would be
to cut off the bearing wood. The argu-
ment seemed little feasible, as to the
Eureka in its natural habit seems to
force its growth to the extremities, which
if let alone fails to push the buds along
the stems and finally becomes barren of
foliage and branches except at the ends,
which also accounts for their bearing on
the outer branches, and would seem an
argument in favor ofanot pruning for
fear of loss of crop. la ths case of nv
orchard, something had to be done, as |
could not afford to grow half culs; 80
the first operation was to remove all dry
and sicklg spurs and,4 branches and all
fish pole like suckers that were not
needed to fill up an open space in the
tree, and those left were cut back often
three-foufths of their length so az to get
lower start. Probably hundred boxes
of fruit were sacrificed at this first prun-
ing.
In early November I pruned them
again. All trees at this time were care
fully gone over second time and round
ed in, many wagonloads of trim mings
we're consigned to the brush heap The
following season the trees grew beauti-
fully. forming fine compact pyramidal
masses the blossoming and set OF fruit
was comparatively light, except on the
email branches and spurs on the inside
OF the trees; the trees for the season
possibly did not average more than
box apiece, but it was all first-class fruit.
Pruning from that time has been fol-
lowed up continuously but necessarily
much lighter, confined to struggling
branches and those of too rampant a
growth.
Now, what is the result? The fruit
| gathered from these trees is uniform in
ehape and size, smooth skinned and
eeedless. We are not bothered with
rough, irregular specimens, with fruit
ripening up before the proper market
sizes are attained. The heavy wood is
kept largely on the inside OF the tree
| out OF the sun as much with the Eureka
as with the Lisbon. We have none of
the small yellow fruit to speak of, that
requires picking before it reaches mar
ket size. and there are, comparatively
/
ways will be where trees are allowed to
/ grow at will.
AS proof of what say as to the fruit
under this rigid system of pruning, the
fruit from this orchard was shown st the
Los Angeles citrus fair in 1852. and took
frat prize ON the best box OF Lisbon and
best box OF Villa Franco and second
prize on best box of Genoa. Again, at
the Southern California State fair held
at Cotton, just past, fruit from the same
orchard shown by J. w. Freeman, took
first prize for best display of lemons,
also first prize for best 80 lemons. The
trees picked the past season have aver
aged about five boxes each and are at
this time mass OF young fruit and
Aowers.-I. Q. Wood, in Rural Califor-
nian.
Why Fruit Drops.
The controversy in regard to the cause
of the dropping off of various fruits on
coming TO the eizs OF goose shot was dis
! cussed at the recent meeting of the State
Horticultural society, and many of the
speakers considered it was due to lack
OF fertilization of the blossoms by pollen
Nth th;a oriuiop