216 CALIFORNIA FRUITS I HOW TO GROW THEM 



to the trees where from 24 to 30 limbs are grown, than in the old method of 

 leaving only eight or ten large limbs. A few limbs can be taken out each year 

 until a full crop of new wood is again made. 



The foregoing describes the development of the common vase form. 

 A method of forming the apricot with continuous leaders is described 

 in Chapter XII. 



Winter Pruning of Bearing Trees. The evident defect of many 

 old apricot orchards is the failure of the low-bearing wood and the 

 thicket of brush near the ends of long bare limbs. Such trees need 

 renewal of the top by vigorous winter pruning, which should prefer- 

 ably be done toward the close of the dormant season rather than early 

 in the winter as formerly. Old and unprofitable trees have been re- 

 claimed in this way. 



Winter pruning is still the regular method in some parts of the 

 State where the conditions do not favor excessive growth of the tree 

 and where summer pruning does not seem to be called for. The 

 practice is to remove half or two-thirds of the new growth and thin 

 out, by removing entirely enough new and old wood to prevent the 

 tree from becoming thick and brushy. In shortening the bearing 

 shoots it should be remembered that the larger fruits usually grow 

 nearer to the tip than to the base of the shoot. 



THINNING THE APRICOT 



All free-fruiting varieties of the apricot must be thinned to secure 

 size acceptable to purchasers. It is the experience of the oldest grow- 

 ers that though thinning is an expensive operation, it is very profitable. 

 When half the fruit is taken off in thinning, the remainder reaches as 

 large aggregate weight as though the whole were allowed to mature 

 and thinned fruit is worth about twice as much per pound. Even if 

 less weight is secured, and in most cases the purpose should be to get 

 less weight, the tree is spared the exhaustion of over-bearing and the 

 owner escapes a year of little or no fruit. A discussion of this subject 

 is given in a previous chapter. 



Where conditions are favorable, the tree will set more fruit than it 

 can bring to full size, and for this reason thinning or spacing the fruit 

 on the twigs by hand-picking, while the fruit is about the size of a 

 pigeon's egg, is almost a universal practice among the best commercial 

 growers. This is necessary to bring the individual fruits to the 

 diameters required by canners or overland shippers and which they 

 scale in price according to size: Extras, 2^4 inches; No. 1, 2 inches; 

 No. 2, \y 2 inches. Fruit of less size is hard of sale unless the crop 

 happens to be very small. It has also been found that thinning to 

 regulate size is quite as important when the fruit is to be dried by the 

 grower as when sold as fresh fruit. 



IRRIGATION OF THE APRICOT 



Whether the apricot shall be irrigated or not is answered in the 

 chapter on irrigation. In many locations, with proper pruning, thin- 

 ning and cultivation, perfectly satisfactory fruit can be grown with the 



