386 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN". 



fertilization is another story, but you must appreciate the fact that the 

 trees cannot continually take from the soil and continually produce 

 unless 3^ou, on your part, are willing to renew the soil by fertilization. 



The keeping of the bark of the tree in a clean and healthy condition 

 must have your attention. This can be done through the system of 

 spraying. The most popular sprays for this purpose being crude oil 

 emulsion, distillate emulsion, known as Buggo, and the lime-sulphur 

 spray. The best time to spray for this purpose is through the months 

 of December, January, or February. The spray outfit, oftentimes in 

 some sections of the State is again called into use in the fighting of the 

 thrips. It has been successfully proven that this insect can be kept 

 imder control by the use of any one of the two or three different well 

 known spray solutions. 



The prune tree will blossom the latter part of March. Fruit sets 

 immediately following the falling of the petals. A person can generally 

 gain a fair idea as to the kind of a crop he is going to have by the latter 

 part of April. Fruit ripens during the latter part of August and it 

 is of a rich purple hue when ripe. 



Prunes should never be picked from the tree. Thc}^ should be 

 allowed to thoroughly ripen and fall to the ground of their own accord. 

 An orchard should be covered by pickers picking the fruit from every 

 seven to ten days — every seven days preferably, so as to prevent sun- 

 burn. The usual form of contract with pickers calls for four pickings, 

 no shaking of the trees until the third picking, and then at grower's 

 discretion. 



The green fruit is hauled to the dipper shed in picking boxes and 

 there passed through a light solution of lye. A kettle or tank, holding 

 two hundred gallons of water and containing a basket container is used 

 for this purpose. In many instances the fruit is rinsed by passing 

 from this dip into a vat of clear water and then dumped on to a com- 

 bination pricking board and grader, which grades the fruit into three 

 grades, so that the drying in the field can be uniform, the grader being 

 operated by power. The fruit is then placed on eight foot trays and 

 taken to the drying yard and dried in the sun. The purpose of passing 

 the fruit through the lye solution and over the pricking board is that 

 the skin of the fruit may be slightly cut, thereby preventing fermenta- 

 tion and producing a fruit with a clear, bright meat. Many of the 

 small groM^ers do not use the combination pricker and grader; they 

 dump the fruit directly from the dipper basket to the trays, allowing 

 all sizes to be dried together. This is not as satisfactory to the grower 

 as the first mentioned method. The most satisfactory and economical 

 method of handling from the dipper shed to the dry yard is to use a 

 one-horse truck especially constructed for this purpose. 



The question of drying is again a matter of judgment. Fruit should 

 be allowed to lay in the sun on the trays until about three quarters 

 dried and then stacked in piles one above the other, leaving air vents 

 on either end. About twenty trays can be stacked in one pile and the 



