420 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



no case should the standard types be planted closer than thirty feet apart, and 

 thirty-five or even forty feet apart is desirable. The dwarf sorts may, of course, be 

 planted closer to advantage. 



The cultural methods in commercial chestnut growing are very similar to those 

 required for other trees and come within the general rule, that the better care 

 given assures a larger growth of tree and a greater productiveness. In choosing 

 trees for the commercial orchard preference should be given to budded trees, and if 

 from those of known parentage it will be of advantage. New plantings are some- 

 times made with seedling trees, but these do not always come true to the desired 

 type, and to that extent are not so desirable. 



It is always of interest to prospective planters to learn the financial side of the 

 situation confronting them when they take up the matter of setting out a new acre- 

 age. It therefore is a pleasure to state that in favorable localities in this county 

 chestnut trees as obtained from nurseries come into bearing at three years of age, and 

 of course bear increasingly heavy crops for fifty years or more. From a small tract 

 on property of Dr. Mack at Paradise. Butte County, he has been harvesting large 

 crops annually which, after proper deductions being made for the lesser net profit 

 from a large planting, than that of a small area, would assure an income, clear of 

 nil expenses, at the rate of over $200 per acre. It may be said that this is not an 

 exceptional yield but only the average of most well-kept tracts. 



THE FUTURE OF THE ALMOND IN COLUSA COUNTY. 



By L. R. Boedefeld, County Horticultural Commissioner, Colusa, Cal. 



The future of the almond in Colusa County is assured. There are at this time 

 something over 5,000 acres of trees, all of which, with the exception of a very small 

 per cent, are located in the southwestern part of the county and on land at the base 



of the western foothills. In the center of this dis- 

 trict are the towns of College City and Arbuckle. 

 Almonds have been produced in the Arbuckle section 

 of the county since the early eighties, but only on a 

 small scale and little attention was paid to them 

 even by the owners of the producing orchards, 

 because, with the exception of a few vineyards, that 

 country was entirely devoted to the raising of grain 

 and stock, and it was impossible to get any of the 

 big farmers to grow orchards. The real planting of 

 the almond began in the district about eight years 

 ago, when two large ranches were sold and put on 

 the market in small tracts. The success of the sub- 

 division of this land, and its planting to almonds, 

 is due more to the efforts of D. S. Nelson than any 

 other one man in the county. 



The laud on which the plantings were made was 

 in most cases considered poor grain laud by the 

 farmers of that section, and as a matter of fact a 

 large portion of the land was not fit for grain and 

 was used for range purposes. But it was the nature 

 of the soil and the climatic conditions which made it the favored spot for the almond. 

 It is the wonderful ability of the soil to retain the moisture that made the plantings 

 a success, and it is the almost entire freedom from frost during the flowering season 

 that has made the bearing trees the large producers that they are. It is never 

 necessary to irrigate the almond tree in that section after it has reached the bearing 

 age, if the proper cultural methods are used, and the only water used on the young 

 trees was during two dry seasons when the rainfall was far below the average. 



The freedom from frost in the spring is due to the fact that the orchards are on 

 land which has perfect air drainage : land in which there are pockets for the cold 

 air to settle in are avoided for almond planting. 



The almond begins to bear a paying crop in its fourth or fifth year. It is not 

 uncommon for a five-year orchard to produce $200 worth of almonds per acre. As 

 there are now several hundred acres, seven years or older, the almond can be con- 

 sidered as an established industry in this county, and if the plantings continue on 

 the same scale for the next eight years as they have for the past eight, and there is 

 every indication that they will, because there are still thousands of acres of ideal 

 almond land available at a reasonable price, the almond will produce more wealth for 

 the comity than all the other horticultural interests put together. 



