State Agricultural Society. 451 



FRUIT CULTURE. 



BY C. W. REED, OF YOLO COUNTY. 



The subject of fruit culture is one upon which so much has been said 

 and written that I cannot expect to add anything that will be new. But 

 if I can say anything that will prompt others to avoid the mistakes that 

 I have made I shall have the satisfaction of having done something to 

 benefit the great industry of fruit culture in California. I am so little 

 accustomed to giving publicity to my own thoughts that for me to review 

 the subject of fruit culture in the briefest possible manner 1 fear will 

 prove tedious. What I shall say principally will be not as an amateur, 

 but as a practical operator from my own experience, during the past 

 seventeen years in California. When I admit that I have made many 

 blunders, you can realize the fact that I have paid very dearly for my 

 want of correct information at the outset, and if any new beginners can 

 profit by my suggestions it will be a source of gratification to me. I am 

 fulljr impressed with the idea that California is destined to occupy the 

 very front rank as a fruit producing country, and I hope the knowledge 

 that will be disseminated through this Club will help develop this great 

 industry and make it a source of profit to every one engaged in it. That 

 the soil and climate of California are capable of producing more kinds 

 of fruit and in greater perfection than any other countiy with which I 

 am at all acquainted is a fact concerning which I do not entertain the 

 shadow of a doubt; and when I consider our almost total exemption 

 from insects and the diseases so prevalent to fruit trees elsewhere, I feel 

 constrained to charge the blame upon the producer whenever I' see a 

 poor specimen of fruit of any kind. Almost every kind of fruit can be 

 grown to perfection within the limits of our own State under proper 

 cultivation; but in this business, like every other, it is all-important to 

 study adaptability of soil and climate, and when they are uot specially 

 adapted to the particular *culture proposed, seek a new locality or set 

 yourself vigorously at work to correct the defects at the very outset. 

 If the condition of your soil is not just what it should be, spare no 

 pains or reasonable expense to place it in proper condition before plant- 

 ing your trees, and where the climate is not decidedly favorable, you 

 can adopt a mode of culture which will by degrees do a great deal 

 towards acclimating your trees to suit different degrees of heat or cold. 

 These modifications can be wrought by culture and a proper knowdedge 

 of the trees you desire to cultivate, and that alone. 



The leading idea I would like to impress upon every one who is en- 

 gaged in fruit culture is, that the small additional outlay between thor- 

 ough and indifferent work at the time of planting trees is so trifling, 

 when considered in connection with attending results, that it seems to 

 me it is only necessary to be understood to insure observance. A hole 

 two feet in diameter and eighteen inches in depth may seem amjde in 

 which to plant a tree, but the additional cost to dig said hole four feet 



