426 CALIFORNIA FRUITS I HOW TO GROW THEM 



have plenty of room not less than twenty- four feet apart (though 

 some plantations are made at twenty feet), and thirty feet is better. 



Old almond trees are readily worked over to other varieties by 

 grafting and by budding into new shoots forced out by cutting off large 

 branches. Methods with the peach described in page 242 are applicable 

 to the almond. 



The pruning of the almond is very simple. The tree should be 

 headed low and pruned during the first three years, as described in 

 Chapter XII, to secure a shapely, strong tree. After the third year 

 little pruning is required except to thin out objectionable branches by 

 winter pruning. Suckers, or rank new growth, in the center of the tree 

 should be removed, unless more branches are needed; such growth 

 bears little and takes away strength from bearing wood. There is dan- 

 ger of allowing the trees to become too dense. Shortening in, as prac- 

 ticed with the peach, is sometimes proposed for the almond, for the 

 thrift of the tree and the size of the nut, but growers have not had 

 courage enough to assume the increased cost of production which would 

 be involved. 



The cultivation of the almond orchard is the same as commended 

 for other fruit trees, and as the trees are often planted in naturally dry 

 soils, the greater care in cultivation is needed to retain sufficient 

 moisture to give good size to the nuts. In certain locations, of course, 

 irrigation will be necessary, but usually a light rainfall will answer if 

 good cultivation is given. 



Gathering, Hulling, and Bleaching. Almonds are gathered by 

 spreading canvas under the tree and jarring the branches separately 

 with a side stroke from a soft wood pole ; the few nuts remaining can 

 be displaced by striking with a light stick. The gathering should be 

 done after the hulls have burst open, but should not be delayed until the 

 nuts are badly discolored. Discoloration of the nut depends upon local 

 atmospheric conditions and is worst in regions subject to moist winds 

 or fogs from the ocean, and they often extend considerable distances 

 into the interior valleys. On the dry plateaux adjacent to the Mojave 

 Desert perfectly bright almonds are produced naturally, but at these 

 elevations frost injuries are frequent and notable. 



For the greater part of the almond product, bleaching is apparently 

 demanded by market requirements, but it must be carefully done as 

 described on the following page. Various home-made contrivances are 

 used for bleaching, such as piling up several of the slat-bottom trays one 

 upon another, placing around them sides made of boards so as to hook 

 together at the corners, cover the top with a damp canvas, and burn the 

 sulphur in a hole in the ground below the bottom tray. 



Webster Treat, formerly a large grower of almonds, describes his 

 sulphuring-house for almonds : 



My bleaching house is about twenty-five feet by eight feet, and I generally put 

 in about four thousand pounds of almonds and expose them to sulphur fumes 

 for three or four hours. The house is boarded with tongue and groove flooring, 

 inside and out, and roofed with well-laid shingles, and has a flue about two feet 

 high on the apex, to help draft the sulphur smoke up. The floor is of one-by- 

 three-inch stuff, set up edgewise, three-eighths of an inch apart, or just wide 

 enough to admit the fumes from the sulphur burning below, and narrow enough 



