The record-union., 1899-11-16
PROFITABLE OLIVE CULTURE
SECRETARY b. M. LELONG
SPEAKS REGARDING 1T.
Fertilization, Scientific Pruning
and Irrigation the Factors
Necessary to Success.

Fertilization, Scientific Pruning
* and Irrigation the Factors
Necessary to Success.
Secretary B. M. Lelong of the state
Board of Horticulture was calieo VI
to speak regarding the olive, at Tic
Pathological Society meeting IN Ana
helm last week He replied that the
olive industry has suffered more from
writer's who are not familiar with thelr
subject than from any other cause ne
had learned that it is not wise 10 jump
at conclusions and it is not safe to say
that the industry is a failure because
some trees fail to bear He ADDED:
Il find great many varieties do noe
produce because they are not growing
under conditions adapted to that par
tlcular variety of the olive. From IN
vestigations 7 have found that some
orchards waste their energies going to
wood, while there is no effort pelng
made by the owners to increase the
bearing branches. Some varieties of
olives are deficient in the sexual
strength of the bloom, not having the
ability to fertilize one another. There
are trees over 100 years old in the
State which are bearing heavily, and
many cuttings have been taken from
these, but in some cases it has been
found that some of these trees have
the floral weakness, and yet cuttings
have been taken from such weak trees
for further planting. In these cases it
can readily be understood why the
trees do not bear.
Other trees are not trimmed as they
should be. They should be so pruned
as to keep a continuous succession of
shoots for the bearing of fruit. The
only orchard which can be expected TO
bear an annual crop is that in which
scientific pruning is kept up. Fertiliza-
ton and irrigation are ignored in many
cases, and this is responsible for the
failure of many of the orchards to bear.
l believe that an orchard should have
four or more thorough irrigations each
year.
The black scale is also great
menace to the production of fruit.
When the tree becomes badly infested
1t stops bearing.
Il was criticised severely a number.
of years ago because I claimed that in
many sections the olive must be iris
gated the same as the orange treess
There We're too many orchards which
had been planted where water was not.
to be had, the owners had set then. out
to SELL Those same parties met last
year at Pomona and decided that in
order to raise a crop of olives water
should be freely applied. There are a.
greater number of varieties of olives in
the State than of any other fruit, and
these varieties must be selected with
regard to the adaptability of the soil.
and in each locality the growers must
solve the question of adaptability for
themselves by observation and expert
ment
So far some types of the Mission
olive have given the best results.
though there are types of the Mission
that are deficient in floral strength.
During the discussion of the olive aues-
ton here in Southern California it has
been stated that the tree does not bear.
Ihls is too sweeping an assertion. and
want to warn you against condemn
ing that tree. 1t has been claimed that
the olive tree passes it's prime when
about twenty-five years old. No one
can speak authoritatively regarding il.
We know that in Europe the best bear
ing years of the olive are from the age
of 100 to 200 years"
There We're some points upon which
the Fruit World wished Mr.. Le-
longs opinion, and he added the fol-
lowing:
In years past many people recon-
mended that the olive be planted on
soils and locations where nothing else
Will grow, and that the olive would
nourlsh under such conditions. Many
orchards We're so planted. and while
they have grown we'll and became large
trees, have not produced fruit. Some
OF these orchards have been given re-
newed attention by way of pruning. ir-
rigation, fertilization, ETC., and have in
variably responded, by prod ueins boun-
tiful crops. The tree REQUIRES eareful
and continuous attention, the same as
applied to the orange. lemon, etc.
There are varieties that are 'Drof,,se
boomers, which could be introduced in
the orchard, SO that the pollen could
scatter among the other varieties, but
IN DONG so, varieties should be selected
that bloom at the same period Take.
Ior instance, the principal almond
VI Sioi 10 VI the state, the pollen of
which was found to be deficient. These
We're regulated by planting profuse-
blooming varieties in alternate rows.
the pollen of which intermixed and pro-
duced bountiful crops
Il may also cite the walnut orchards
which everywhere are found to contain
trees producing flowers of but one sex.
or flowers of both sexes or flowers with
one sex coming out two or three weeks
before the other In other words bv
the time the tree bore the female flow
ers, the males had dropped the pollen.
either washed away by rains zor car
RID away by the wind. and the failure of
the female to receive the pollen from
the male flower at the proper time
shriveled away and dropped, therefore
failing to set.
There are numerous other trees Of
the several varieties which require cross
fertilization in order to produce fruit.
of these l may mention the Carob
tree, there being male and female trees.
the males never producing pods, while
the female does, from the pollen it re-
ceives from the male tree Although
the female tree produces flowers of both
sexes, the male is of material assist
ance in the setting of the pods.
could cite numerous other instances.