422 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



If carelessly primed, dwarfs may overbear while still young and become stunted. 

 They require good soil, and a fair amount of moisture. Our orchard has never been 

 irrigated, and has never suffered from drought, with an average rainfall of 21 

 inches, and has passed through two seasons of drought, with less than 12 inches of 

 rain each season for two consecutive seasons. During these dry years a few 

 standard trees on the same kind of soil, trees injured more than their standard 

 neighbors by aphis, almost died, so that they had to be headed back to the forks of 

 the trees. 



There are a number of commercial plantings of dwarfs in Contra Costa County, 

 and there will be more, particularly on the soils where aphis is a problem. Some 

 trees of Japan root — standards — are being planted. Apparently the Japan root has 

 somewhat greater resistance to the aphis than the French root, besides being quite 

 resistant to blight. It is not immune, however, and it will take a number of years 

 to find out its adaptations and uses. 



Where standards on Japan root are planted, 24 by 24, dwarfs can be advantage- 

 ously used as fillers, with the idea of cutting them out at the age of about fifteen 

 yea rs. 



Certain nurseries have sold Bartletts worked direct on quince root. The union 

 is defective, and trees are apt at any time to break at the union. Such trees should 

 never be planted. 



Examination of our trees shows they are true dwarfs — that is, the Hardy has not 

 thrown down roots. Had they been planted with the unions underground, this 

 might have happened, and whether it would have been a detriment or a benefit I can 

 not say. 



Young dwarf trees should always have tree protectors the first season, as they 

 sunburn very readily. After the first season there is no danger of sunburn. 



FRUIT GROWING IN EL DORADO COUNTY. 



By J. E. Hassler, County Horticultural Commissioner, Placerville, Cal. 



EI Dorado County is the empire county of the state. Here gold was first dis- 

 covered in January, 1S4S. Its area, according to the California State Board of 

 Agriculture, is 1,753 square miles, or 1,121,920 acres. Along the western border 



stretches a belt of land peculiarly adapted to the 

 growth of fruits such as the olive, the fig, the 

 apricot, and in some favored spots the orange and 

 lemon. From here by gradual ascent we reach the 

 higher altitudes which produce our fancy mountain 

 fruits. The red soil here is usually covered by a 

 heavy growth of scrub oak, manzanita, buckeye and 

 chaparral ; here is where the fruit of the vine reaches 

 perfection. As we go still higher and reach the 

 upper foothill region at an altitude of from 1,500 to 

 2.500 feet, we find the soil covered with heavy 

 growths of timber, such as the black oak, live oak, 

 pine, spruce, cedar, etc., while the banks of the 

 streams and creeks are lined with alder, dogwood, 

 madrone, etc. At this altitude and up to 3,000 feet 

 are grown all our deciduous fruits for Eastern 

 shipment. Here also the cereals produce good 

 remunerative crops, while potatoes and all garden 

 vegetables attain perfection both in size and quality. 

 The pear, plum, peach, grape, apple and all orchard 

 products of a temperate zone attain excellent size, 

 color, flavor and keeping quality. 



Here we find varieties of apples and pears planted out by the pioneer miners in 

 early days, which are practically growing wild around where their cabins stood, but 

 which long since have disappeared. The fruit trees are still thriving in many_ cases 

 completely surrounded and hemmed in by native brush. I wish to call attention to 

 one remarkable circumstance. Seven years ago, when I was first appointed county 

 horticultural commissioner, I made a personal inspection of all orchards in the county, 

 and in mv travels I found many of these abandoned locations with apple and pear 



