The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-05-24
TO TILLERS OF THE SOIL.
Hints That May Prove Of Benefit to
Our EeIghbOTs,
Articles Of Unduubted Worth 10 The Farmer, Collected
From Reliable Sources,
APRICOT-DRYING.

Scc'
treatment! From the time the first tiny
bud bursts in the spring until the crop
is harvested, what an unfoldmentl Who
can tell what is wrapped up in those
tiny buds, leaves, flowers, wonderous
fruits? Tons, carloads, train-loads, to
be sent to our hungry neighbors in more
ungenerous climes, or maybe no fruit
and the grower must do all the years
work over again and hope for next years
crop. / feel sorry for that man who fol.
lows business and cannot throw heart
and soul into it.
The Apricot Tree.--I head my trees
lew, start them to branch knee high ; as
soon as they grow ten inches | nip them
and get two growths the first season, and
80 on every year until they come into
bearing, and then l prune but once 8
year. OF all trees excepting the orange
it is my favorite, and is next to the or.
aDge in beauty if properly pruned.
have tested many varieties. The Royal
is the most regular bearer here. The
lovely Moorpark is untrustworthy.
Thinning.-We invariably go over oui
orchard whether the crop is light OF
heavy and thin our fruit, thinning by
hand, the only proper way. l know
people who throw stones up, and Others
who use pitchiorks and thrash the trees
have been told, so! never thin; the
big ones will crowd the little ones off.
Picking.-Ih have carpenter make my
step-ladders; just underneath each ster
l run quarterback iron rod, washer
on one end and Il nut and washer on the
other. When step wears out, | saw ii
in two, unscrew my nut and slip in a
new step and screw up my nut again
This is better than to have both ends
riveted. OF course keep my ladders
painted. l use chip baskets holding
about 30 pounds for picking baskets
they are | inches high and Is inches in
diameter-and use duck to cover the
outside Of the bottom of the basket, run.
ming it up about three inches and sewing
it to the basket with tie yarn. use my
old overalls for this purpose. When the
picking is done, they are scrubbed, dried
in the sun and put away in room.
take p ; inch harness snap and break
out the tongue, and bolt it, running the
bolt through the eye, to the top of the
top step of the ladder. The hook pro-
trudes over the edge of the middle an
inch, opposite the steps. tie a small
ring to the center of the basket handle
and the picker sli the ring into the
hook, and the weig is in the center OF
the ladder, and the picker has both
hands to use. / never hire a Chinaman,
l get the most intelligent people | can,
not the cheapest. In picking, we &c
over our trees three or four times; the
last time, and only the last, there being
only few scattering ones on the trees,
we lay down sheets and shake. We use
two sheets l0x20 feet to each tree. We
like this much better than single sheet
split TO the center. The men carry sticks
and odd ones that will not shake off they
push off.
Cutting.-I have women and girls cut
and lay the fruit. Some hold the knife
perfectly still and roll the fruit on the
blade; Others move both knife and fruit.
The best knife for cutting l have yet
seen is the small pocket pruning knife.
The blade is somewhat concave or circu-
lar and fits to the fruit. Many devices
have been made to cut fruit by machin-
cry, but as yet have seen nothing SC
neat as cutting by hand. The difficult
ties are, the fruit must be sorted before
being cut, and handled again in spread
ing. In time we may have some good
cutting machines, but soft fruit will have
to be cut by hand.
The Trays.-We prefer cutting the
fruit and laying at once, perfectly fiat,
cut side up. Some crowd and lay on
edge; that is bad, for it does not hold its
round, pretty shape, and, if quite ripe,
the juice runs out and the fruit does not
dry as quickly. My invariable advice
has been, buy plenty of trays; then il
you can sell to the Gamers or shippers
to good advantage do SO, if not, you can
dry and not be at their mercy. We use
5000 2x3-foot trays, sugar pine, end
pieces 4 inches, side inch and bottom
shakes (four pieces each inches wide
and 1a-inch thick; they should be so,
but when you get them they will be "a
inch wide. ordered lot of shakes
from Sacramento; they cost me $50, and
the railroad company charged me $40
freight. 1t won't be so when the Gov
eminent owns the railroads. If one is
doing large business, 3x6-foot or S-foot
trays will be most suitable, but we dry
only the fruit grown on the ranch and
prefer 2x3 foot trays, because one man
serves the cutters with fruit and trays,
and can pick up two 2x3s easily, while
3x6s require two men to lift each tray
My trays are put together with wire
nails. 1t is false economy to buy lot
of redwood shakes and tack your trays
together slightly. have seen lot of
trays in use, several thousand continu-
ally requiring one man on repairs.
The Drying Ground.-As soon as the
fruit is cut we place it on cars, and when