The Ouve in Arizona 513 



time to prune 



Olives should be pruned at least three times during the year, once 

 late in winter just preceding active growth and twice during the sum- 

 mer. Under no circumstances should a young orchard go through the 

 summer without being pruned, as the trees will assume improper 

 shapes ; and later efforts to correct them will retard development and 

 fruit bearing. It is also important that older orchards be pruned dur- 

 ing the summer, sometimes to the extent of removing fruiting branches. 

 When trees are heavily loaded it is better to thin out the weaker fruit- 

 laden branches than to have small, inferior fruit or run the risk of 

 the trees expending so much energy in developing the crop that they 

 will not bear the following year. 



INTERPLANTING 



The spaces between olive rows should be utilized in the growing 

 of other crops. It is possible to secure paying inter-crops without 

 injury to the trees until they are eight or ten years old, at which time 

 the orchard itself should yield profitable returns. Truck crops, early 

 bearing fruits such as the grape and peach, or field crops may be used 

 for this purpose. Although the growing of other crops in an olive 

 orchard is highly desirable, the trees must not be neglected for the 

 sake of the secondary crop. It is easily possible for an inter-crop to 

 rob the trees of moisture and plant food; however, the orchard can 

 be handled so that good returns may be secured from the inter-crop 

 without injuring the trees. Whatever crop is used, a cleanly cultivated 

 strip should be maintained along the tree rows, its width depending 

 upon the size of the trees. 



The grape has proved a most satisfactory fruit for interplanting 

 with olives, because it comes into bearing early and the vines do not 

 hinder the full spread of the trees. Mr. B. F. Carper of the Salt 

 River Valley has used this combination very satisfactorily, having 

 secured from his five-year-old orchard a yield of one and one-third 

 tons of olives and one ton of grapes per acre. The peach and the 

 apricot have also been used very successfully as fillers where the 

 trees were pruned to prevent crowding the olives. 



