BETTER FRUIT 



EDITOR: W. H. WALTON 

 STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON — C. I. Lenis. Horticulturist. 



W \SHlNGTON — Dr. A. L. MelaiiJer, Entomologist; 

 (>. jr. Morris. Horticulturist. Pullman. 



COLORADO — O P Gillette. Director and Entomologist , 

 E. B. House, Irrigation Espen, State Agricultural College. 

 Fort Collins. _ . , . . .^ 



ARIZONA— E P. Taylor. Hortlcultunst. Tuctsou. 



WISCONSIN— Dr. E. D. Ball. Madison. 



MONTANA— H. Tlioniber. Victor , _. . „ t. 



C^LIFCJRNIA — C. W, Woodworth. Entomologist. Berke- 

 ley; W. H. Volcb. Entomologist. WatsonviUe ; Leon D. 

 Batchelor. Horticulturist. Riverside. 



INDIAN-\— H. S. Jackson. Patliologist. Lafayette. 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern, Progiessive Fruit Growing 



and Marketing. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



703 Orcgonian Building 



PORTLAND, OREGON 



All Communications should be addressed and 

 Remittances made payable to 



BETTER FRUIT PUBLISHING COMPANY 



Subscription Price: 



In the United States, ?2.00 per year in advance. 



Canada and Foreign, including postage, S3.00, 



payable in American exchange. 



Advertising Bates on Application 



Entered as second-class matter April 22, 1918, 



at the PostolTice at Portland, Oregon, under 



the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



Volume XIV 



Portland, Oregon, April 1, 1920 



Number 10 



The Growing and Culture of Almonds in California 



By R. H. Taylor 

 Published by the College of Agriculture, Berkeley, California 



THE almond (prunu-s communis) is 

 supposed to be native to the coun- 

 tries around the Mediterranean 

 and at present the bulk of the world's 

 supply is produced in that region. It re- 

 sembles the peach somewhat in manner 

 of growth and character of blossoms 

 and leaves, but the wood is much harder 

 and the tree is longer-lived under 

 equally favorable conditions. The fruit, 

 instead of having a thick, fle.shy peri- 

 carp as in the case of the peach, has a 

 thin, leathery pericarp or hull, which 

 splits on ripening and generally opens 

 when dry, exposing the nut inside. 



California produces over 08 per cent 

 of the entire American crop and has 

 done so for many years. During the 

 period from inOO to 1013 the number 

 of bearing trees remained approxi- 

 mately the same, new plantings having 

 replaced old orchards that were being 

 pulled out. The variation in Califor- 

 nia production from year to year prior 

 to 1015, is due to seasonal variations 

 rather than to change in acreage. 



With the 1015 crop the production 

 in California entered upon \yhat ap- 

 pears to be a long prospective increase. 

 The large acreage of almonds set out in 

 the last four or five years is the result 

 of greatly improved market conditions 

 due to the successful work of the Cali- 

 fornia Almond Growers' Exchange. The 

 first of the.se new plantings are now 

 coming into bearing, and each year for 

 many years in the future will continue 

 to see "increased yields. Large acreages 

 are still being planted so that the al- 

 mond production in California bids 

 fair to continue to grow. 



Within the next few years California 

 growers will, in all probability, be 

 forced to accept lower prices for their 

 almonds than they are now receiving. 

 The American markets are fully sup- 

 plied at present prices, yet constantly 

 increasing acreage will inevitably re- 

 sult in a greatly increased tonnage. 

 European almonds are being [iroduced 

 at a lower net cost and can be laid 

 down on the Atlantic Coast more cheap- 

 ly than is possible with the California 

 product. This brings the grower face 

 to face with the necessity of becoming 

 more thoroughly familiar with the most 

 economical methods of production and 

 marketing if they are to continue to 



make a profit. It is essential, therefore, 

 that a careful study be made of all the 

 factors concerned in the growth, pro- 

 duction and final disposition of the al- 

 mand crop. 



Habits 

 The almond is the first of the decid- 

 uous fruit trees to start growth and 

 come into bloom in the spring, and 

 normally the last one to shed its leaves 

 in the fall. In other words, it has a 

 very short period of rest. When the 

 trees are forced into premature dor- 

 mancy by mites or lack of moisture, 

 they soon reach the end of their norma! 

 rest period before the winter season is 

 over. Then the first warm weather in 

 spring will bring the trees into blos- 

 som. In some cases where moisture 

 and temperature conditions are favor- 

 able late in the fall, they may actually 

 blossom before the winter season. In 

 young trees that have become dormant 

 unusually early, the rest period may 

 terminate and then the tips of the 

 branches resume growth and continue 

 to slowly develop new leaves at the 



terminals throughout the winter. Trees 

 which have been kept growing thriftily 

 until the leaves have been forced to fall 

 by the cold weather and frosts of win- 

 ter, do not tend to blossom as early in 

 the spring, nor do they open under the 

 influence of a few days of warm wea- 

 ther in late winter or early spring. 



Young trees blossom somewhat later 

 than the older trees, and buds on sucker 

 growth blossom later than the more 

 mature portions of the same tree. The 

 difTercnce may amount to three or four 

 days or almost a week. Well-grown 

 trees carry large numbers of blossoms 

 over the entire tree. 



The wood of the almond is very hard 

 and strong, enabling the tree to bear 

 the weight of heavy crops where prun- 

 ing has been given proper attention 

 during the formative period of the 

 young tree. As with other fruit trees, 

 the almond is subject to heart-rot and 

 care should always be exercised to pre- 

 vent the checking and cracking of large 

 wounds and consequent infection with 

 decay organisms. The hardness of the 



Couilisij CiiUvije i>f AgrhuUuii 



■I'ypicai llillsidc oi 

 siVc and some art 



. ncrUcley, C.iilifnrnui 



iliard of Jordan almonds near I.os (iai.is. 'rret-s are variable in 

 missing. In the right foreground is a typical spot of missing 

 trees resulting from oak fungus infection. 



