THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 305 



locality, if possible, better there than they can be grown anywhere 

 else, and the apricot is the one kind of fruit that is being most planted 

 in the section where I live. Now, I do not wish to offend the sensi- 

 bilities of any apricot grower from some other section by suggesting 

 that we grow the best apricot there is. There are a good many kinds 

 of "best," and if there are other sections, as there are, that are plant- 

 ing heavily of apricots, the apricots from these sections must excel in 

 some qualities; but in the points for which the apricots of the central 

 coast valleys are sought there can be no better I am sure. These 

 qualities are large size and rich flavor, with firm, Avell colored pulp, 

 so that they may ripen on the tree and still be shipped to the canning 

 factories. They give very small shrinkage in drying and make large 

 dried fruit of the highest quality and appearance. 



To attain these high standards in quality one must have a rich, 

 deep, loam soil, and, as the apricot is an early bloomer, the orchard 

 must be located in a spot that is practically free from frost. Some 

 parts of the orchard on this place have been free from frost for 

 twenty or thirty years while other spots, low sags, have been more or 

 less injured every few years. Other parts have been hurt only in 

 such j-ears as 1898, when there was so much damage throughout the 

 State. In good locations the apricot will give an immense tonnage of 

 fruit and so, as I said, the soil must be deep, as it is in favorable 

 locations throughout California, and I should say never plant on soil 

 less than 10 feet deep, for I have seen the roots of apricot trees fully 

 double that depth in the soil. 



This deep soil is of little value to the tree if it is not kept moist, for 

 the roots can get nothing out of it in the way of nourishment when it 

 gets very dry, as it was during the two years just past in many 

 orchards. In old orchards, where the roots fully possess the soil for 

 many feet down, and the tree tops are big and there is a heavy draft on 

 the soil for moisture and nourishment, the water is soon pumped out 

 in dry years, and I have found that the ability to put water on your 

 trees at any time you judge they need it, that is, to have a sufficient 

 and reliable irrigation plant, is one of the very best investments an 

 orchardist can make, and in a properly located orchard will go far 

 toward insuring regular and abundant crops of fine quality. 



I would flood the land of bearing orchards in the winter unless rains 

 are very abundant, then I would irrigate in deep furrows, or in blocks, 

 in May and again in the early fall, soon after the fruit is gathered. 

 The summer irrigation may tend to draw the roots to the surface, but 

 the winter watering will go down deep in the soil and enable roots to 

 reach greater depths than would have been possible under natural 

 conditions, perhaps. 



Having got our soil and location and plant for irrigation, the next 

 thing is varieties. A number of years ago when I was in the nursery 

 business with my father, the late James Shinn, we thought at first, 

 that out of many kinds we had tested, there were six that we could 

 thoroughly recommend for market planting. They were the Sacra- 

 mento peach apricot, obtained, I think, from Mr. Williamson, a 

 pioneer nurseryman of that place ; the large and small Hemskirke, 

 Moorpark, Royal and Blenheim, or, as we then grew it, the Shipley. 

 Now, I would cut the recommendation down to the one variety last 



