The herald., 1893-05-28


at Ventura. April 5th and 9th, 1881
Planting an orchard and bringing 1t
to maturity is serious undertaking,
involving no inconsidersble expenditure
of time and money and labor. one
contemplating an investment OF this
gravity should see TO it that his soil and
climate are adapted to the fruit he pro-
poses to grow, and inform himself IN
regard to the probable demand and
supply at such future time as his trees
shall come into bearing. If be has
chosen spricots as his venture, then let
him adopt as his motto Thorough"
In preparing the land for planting,
one cannot break and pulverize it too
deeply, say 10 or IL inches. The trees
should be the very best, selected with
rigid care. Afterwards ehallower cultl-
vation will suffice, but the soil should
frequently be stirred to a depth OF Blk
or eight inches, and kept loose around
the trunk of the tree. The apricot is
lusty grower, and its hungry roots go
far and deep in quest of food and drink.
In the moist and fertile soil of the
great Ventura valley, an orchard should
be set in sextuple form and not less than
80 feet from tree to tree (35 feet would
be better still), although nearly every
orchard in this county is set 20 feet or
less. At 25 feet, the usual distance, in
10 years root and branches Of adjacent
trees are intertwined, all available space
is occupied, and as a consequence the
tree makes but little progress in growth!
and yield, and presents clear case OF
arrested development. Given all the
will almost rival the walnut tree in size
and far surpass it in productiyeness.
The cultivation OF an apricot orchard
must be such as to kill every weed and
alwavs leave bed of loose earth OF five
or more inches to serve as mulch and
forIthe circulation OF air. Pruning should
begin early to give the desired shape to
the tree. and should be repeated every
wear. The tree should be headed low to
shade its trunk and roots and to enable
most Of the fruit to be picked by hand.
The head should be kept open to ad-
NIT the sunshine and air-a very inn
portant matter along the coast. Gut
out all dead wood and interfering
limbs ahd water sprouts. You Will
find your labor amply compensated,
For OF all the trees that grow and yield
delicious 1kh~s<, -ss-s-rsfst sqsses ses4sa
EIatoiui ,Sz.s- geneteus apricot, whose
perfect beauty once tempted Roman
emperor to lay aside the purple for the
delights Of his orchard. The fruit that
wrought this miracle is far surpassed
by the same splendid fruit which, in our
day, is surprise, charm and an ele-
ment Of wealth to our own beloved
California.
The favorite variety in Ventura is the
Royal, a heavy and regular bearer. The
l.. L. A-s<~
and for the past three years the Moor
park under various aliases has yielded
quite as well as any, and in some cases
surpassed others.
Such of the crop as is not sold to the
csnneries is dried, and here too the same
word Thorough" must be the watch
word and the motto. Care must be
taken to gather the fruit when
full ripe--not over-ripe-and above
all, not green. Green fruit
dries too wretchedly, dark little chips,
without appreciable weight, yet vile
enough in appearance to lower the grade
and lessen the value of the pack.
0ver-ripe fruit spreads out and presents
an untidy look, and while not unwhole-
some like the under-ripe specimen, yet
like it, it detracts from the selling quail
ties of the whole.
The perfect machine pitter has not
yet been introduced, and recourse must
still be had to hand pitting. The fruit
should be cut entirely around and tbs
pit lifted out. not squeezed out, nor
pushed out through the end. Careless
pitters adopt this vicious trick and
injure every apricot go treated.
The tray now giving the best satisfac-
ton is the one 3x8 feet. made of sawed
redwood shakes. If the shakes were
one-qusrter or three-eighths of an inch
thick, they would make the trays sitter
and more durable, and leave little in
that line to be desired. Drying goods
should be kept clean and free from dust
and STRAW.
Probably the most important of the
drying is the bleaching. For this the
very best sublimed sulphur-French or
the Brooklyn brand-should be used.
Less quantity than of any other kind
answers the purpose, and not only
bleacher well, but repels insects, 30 that
moths and flies are not 30 apt to deposit
their eggs upon the fruit while drying
in the sun. Superb results have been
obtained from starting the drying in the
sun, say two-thirds of the curing, and
then finishing the evaporation in the
machine.
1t has been demonstrated that excel
lent jams, marmalades and other pre-
serves can be made with the dried april
cots, and when properly prepared for
the table this fruit is certainly among
the most toothsome. Some prodrcers
have adopted the commendable practice
of enclosing in each sack card of printed
directions for preparing the fruit for the
table. A pleased customer buys again,
and so the consumption OF the product
is extended. Californian.
The Best Variety of OIive to Plant.
At the recent interesting and instruct
i've Farmers institute in Nordhoff, Mr..
S. d. Thacher, in an able paper on the
Olive. published in full in The Ojai),
mentioned having employed Mr.. A..
Kamp of San Jose to graft the trees on
the Macmillan place. When preparing
his paper for the institute, Mr.. Thacher
addressed some inquiries to Mr.. Kamp,
but the reply WAS only received few
days ago. Through the kindness of Mr..
Thacher, The Ojai is enabled to publish
Mr. Ramps interesting letter:
DEAR Mr.. THAcHER; Your letter of