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BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



as in the case of the peach. The branch 

 bud will continue the growth of the 

 spur and furnish elaborate food mate- 

 rial for the developing fruit. Heavy 

 pruning will not by any means do away 

 with bearing from spurs, but it will 

 tend to develop strong spurs that will 

 produce new growth each year and 

 bear annually. Pruning will not take 

 the place of hand thinning entirely, but 

 will greatly reduce the amount of thin- 

 ning necessary. The tree may as well 

 be headed low and kept low like the 

 peach, for fruiting wood soon smothers 

 out below if the tree is allowed to grow 

 high. In some sections, summer prun- 

 ing after the crop is off may develop 

 a desirable type of fruiting wood. 

 Fruit-buds formed upon this later 

 growth are tardy about opening in the 

 spring and may escape late spring frost 

 injury. 



The different plums vary consider- 

 ably as to their fruiting habits, but as 

 a class they are more like the apricot 

 in their manner of bearing fruit. On 

 the weaker growths the buds are borne 

 singly and on the stronger growths in 

 groups, either all fruit-buds, or part 

 branch-buds. At least the great ma- 

 jority of plums bear no true terminal 

 buds and weak spurs are objectionable 

 for the same reason that weak apricot 

 spurs are undesirable. Some varieties, 



especially those of the Japanese group, 

 bear almost like a peach and can be 

 pruned like a peach. Others, as those 

 of the Domestica group which you 

 know as prunes, will not stand such 

 severe pruning. The plum fruit-buds 

 produce only flowers and no leaves, or 

 at best only very rudimentary leaves. 

 Each fruit-bud may bear from one to 

 four or five flowers, the larger number 

 of flowers indicating more vigorous 

 growth and better pruning. 



Generally speaking, the best types of 

 fruiting wood are spurs vigorous 

 enough to bear some branch buds, or 

 if the tree bears well on longer growth, 

 twigs bearing groups of fruit-buds well 

 mixed with branch-buds. The first type 

 of fruiting wood is supplied with 

 means of continuing its growth to de- 

 velop fruit-buds for another year. If 

 the branch bud is not present, the fruit 

 spur dies at the close of the fruiting 

 season and becomes a thorn. And yet 

 we sometimes wonder why plum trees 

 have thorns. Spurs cannot be depended 

 upon for very long service. The best 

 spurs are those one year old. To keep 

 up an annual supply of these one-year- 

 old spurs, one must grow each year a 

 good supply of new twigs from twelve 

 to eighteen inches in length. In most 

 varieties, these twigs will bear some 



fruit the following year, and will also 

 develop, from axillary branch buds, 

 strong spurs that may be depended 

 upon for the next crop. In many vari- 

 eties, these stronger new growths are a 

 very good type of fruiting wood. If the 

 tree is pruned vigorously enough to get 

 new wood twelve or eighteen inches 

 long, this may be shortened-in as a 

 means of thinning the fruit. Nearly 

 every cluster of buds will have one 

 branch bud which may be depended 

 upon to continue the growth of the 

 twig. 



One should study the variety of plum 

 he is growing, and prune to get these 

 desirable types of fruiting wood. If the 

 tree bears heavily and requires much 

 thinning, or if it bears fruit through- 

 out the head one year and only in the 

 top the next, the pruning has not been 

 severe enough. Head the tree in from 

 the top each year, for little is gained 

 by growing a tall tree. 



It is to be hoped that we have gained 

 something by a discussion of this phase 

 of pruning. If I have not made myself 

 entirely clear, maybe you have the 

 most important points. The time has 

 not been wasted if we only see the im- 

 portance of being better observers. We 

 must know our plants if we are to care 

 for them well. 



The Walnut— Cultural Methods— Top Grafting 



WALNUTS should be planted only 

 on good deep soil, not underlaid 

 by hardpan, nor where the 

 water will stand on the surface for any 

 considerable length of time. A deep 

 sandy loam is to be preferred, but wal- 

 nuts will do well on heavy soils that 

 are fertile. Good drainage is always 

 necessary, as well as freedom from late- 

 spring and early-fall frosts. The dam- 

 age which might occur from late-spring 

 frosts can be largely avoided by plant- 

 ing late-blooming varieties, but a very 

 early-fall frost is sometimes fatal to the 

 next year's crop. The greater part of 

 the orchard planting has been 40 feet 

 apart in squares. This has proved to 

 be too close on good land and 60 feet 

 apart in squares is not too far in most 

 cases. The planting is too often done 

 with the object of getting a large num- 

 ber of trees to the acre instead of get- 

 ting the maximum production of wal- 

 nuts and increasing the length of life of 

 the tree. An orchard can be made to 

 pay a good income early in its life by 

 planting 00 feet apart in squares with 

 a tree in the center of each square 

 which can be taken out after twelve to 

 fifteen years. In this way the nuts pro- 

 duced by the inter-set trees will often 

 be enough to pay for the land and the 

 planting by the time they will have to 

 be removed. 



Plant only grafted trees, and these 

 should be on roots which are known to 

 succeed well in the locality where the 

 orchard is to be grown. Stocky trees 

 of six to eight feet in height with good 

 root systems should be selected. The 

 planting should be done soon after the 



By J. B. Neff, Anaheim, California 



trees have been taken from the nursery. 

 All broken and bruised ends of roots 

 should be cut clean with a sharp knife. 

 Plant at the same depth the tree stood 

 in the nursery, placing the soil around 

 the roots by hand and giving them all 

 the space they will occupy conven- 

 iently. Walnut trees do not require the 

 heavy pruning that is needed by most 

 deciduous trees, and if there is a good 

 root system carefully taken up with the 

 tree it is not necessary to cut back the 

 single stem of a walnut tree when 

 planting. The lower branches should 

 start at four to five feet from the 

 ground and in such position as to have 

 the heavy side of the tree to the south- 

 west. A good rule for the early prun- 

 ing is to cut off only those branches 

 in the way of the team when cultivat- 

 ing, or that tend to draw the tree too 

 much away from the prevailing winds. 

 No general heading back should be 

 done as this causes the tree to become 

 brushy, which is a condition to be 

 avoided. When the trees are eight to 

 ten years old there will be small 

 branches in the center which shut out 

 the sunshine. These should be taken 

 out, together with all branches that are 

 crossed, as there will be no walnuts in 

 the centers of the trees unless there is 

 sunlight through the trees. A good 

 deal of labor and time can be saved if 

 the trees are gone over in June and the 

 long and useless shoots taken out. It 

 may also be necessary to go over them 

 in July, but much less work will be 

 needed then. The young trees should 

 be supported by stakes during the first 

 two or three years. A convenient stake 



is made by using redwood 2x2 inches 

 by 9 feet long. In addition to making 

 a support for the body any drooping 

 branches can be raised to the proper 

 angle by using short lengths of light 

 rope tied to the top of the stake. 



A walnut orchard which has received 

 good care will begin to produce paying 

 crops after the fifth year from plant- 

 ing and should increase in production 

 for many years. Walnut trees will live 

 to a great age in suitable localities and 

 with proper care. Trees in the south 

 of France and in Spain which are be- 

 lieved to be more than 300 years old 

 are producing heavy crops. Much 

 thought should be given to cultivation 

 and pruning as these assist in pro- 

 ducing larger crops and giving longer 

 life to the trees. Frequent cultivation 

 keeps the moisture in the soil for use 

 in filling the nuts and making strong 

 buds for the next crop. Proper prun- 

 ing promotes growth of wood, gives 

 light through the tree and produces 

 larger walnuts. Instead of pruning to 

 take out dead wood the pruning should 

 be done to keep the wood from dying. 

 If the grower will but remember that 

 walnuts measuring one and one-eighth 

 inches in diameter are almost one-half 

 larger than walnuts measuring only 

 one inch in diameter, and that walnuts 

 measuring one and one-fourth inches 

 in diameter are almost twice as large 

 as those measuring only one inch in 

 diameter he will do much better prun- 

 ing, since the better pruning produces 

 the large walnuts. 



Continued on page 19 



