342 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



ball, rig up a derrick and block and tackle and lift the balled tree out 

 of the hole, land it on a low truck and haul it to a new hole previously 

 made ready, and lower it into place by the same tackle which lifted it. 

 Fill in with fine earth and water-settle it to fill all cavities covering 

 with loose earth several inches to keep from drying. Be sure the tree 

 has plenty, but not too much, moisture during its first summer in its 

 new place. 



Large deciduous trees can be removed when dormant with much 

 less labor, but it should be done in the fall-as soon as the soil is deeply 

 wet by rains. It should be understood, however, that moving large fruit 

 trees, either evergreen or deciduous, is seldom commercially desirable. 



PRUNING THE OLIVE 



Pruning policies as insisted upon in Chapter XII, have direct 

 bearing upon the commercial growth of the olive. The development 

 of the tree according to principles there laid down is practicable and 

 desirable. After proper low form is secured, satisfactory bearing will 

 depend upon regular pruning to secure new bearing shoots and 

 thinning to prevent the tree from becoming too dense and bushy. The 

 olive bears upon wood which grew the preceding year, and upon no 

 other. It is just as important, then, to secure a good supply of such 

 shoots as it is to secure new bearing wood for the peach, and the ways 

 to do it, by cutting back and thinning out, are much the same. Keep 

 the tree from running out of reach of a step-ladder; prevent it from 

 becoming a brush-heap, for both these acts are essential to the growth 

 of good bearing wood, low down. At the same time it must be remem- 

 bered that too severe cutting-back forces the growth of branches which 

 form only wood buds and fruiting is postponed. The secret is to 

 prune enough to induce plenty of new growth but so that not much 

 excessive, non-bearing, new growth results. This is secured by regualar 

 and moderate pruning; some growers systematically cutting back the 

 new growth one-half to two-thirds. 



Trees which have been allowed to form umbrella-like tops may be 

 brought down to business again by cutting back the main limbs and 

 making selection from the many new shoots which appear, but by 

 proper, regular pruning a tree can be so trained that the removal of 

 large limbs is seldom necessary. The times to prune the olive are 

 just after the gathering of the fruit or just before new growth starts 

 in the Spring. 



Developing the Vase Form. Explicit suggestions as to the 

 development of a low, vase-form tree may be helpful to inexperienced 

 growers. The following is from a foreign writer, whose illustrations 

 are presented herewith: 



When the young tree has attained some height, it is the practice to cut off 

 the top, so that the main stem shall be about four and a half feet in rich soil, 

 or three feet in poor soil or in locations exposed to strong winds. Six or eight 

 branches are left to form the head. The process of shaping the tree then pro- 

 ceeds, as shown in the engravings. Fig. 1 shows the young tree to be cut at the 



