PLANTING THE WALNUT 439 



until it throws out laterals, which is usually done the fourth or fifth 

 year. Two-year-old trees are generally preferred, but walnut trees of 

 many times that age can be successfully transplanted if the work is 

 carefully done. Walnut trees are usually set forty feet in squares, 

 though some give the large-growing varieties fifty feet. Planting in 

 hexagonals at forty-five feet distance gives very satisfactory results. 

 Some growers plant in squares at thirty feet distance, intending to re- 

 move alternate trees as they crowd each other, first cutting back, for 

 a time, the trees which are finally to be removed. 



On the Bishop Ranch in the La Patera section of Santa Barbara 

 County several years ago, every other walnut tree was cut out of a 

 twenty-five-year-old grove, the trees originally being set twenty-five 

 feet apart. The advantages were at once apparent, the grove yielding 

 ten per cent more the following season than they did under the old 

 system and the crops have been getting better ever since. Sixty feet 

 is about close enough for mature trees in a walnut grove and when the 

 ground is so shaded that the sun and air cannot penetrate the trees 

 will not thrive. 



Intel-cultures with the Walnuts. In the southern walnut regions 

 it is common to grow beans, squashes, etc., between the rows of trees 

 until the latter reach bearing age; root crops which attract gophers 

 should be avoided. Inter-planting of smaller, early-fruiting trees is 

 also practiced to a considerable extent. 



Walnuts in Alfalfa. Dr. W. W. Fitzgerald, of Stockton, an ex- 

 perienced propagator and planter of walnuts, says : 



To my mind, walnuts and alfalfa, on proper soil, are a very desirable com- 

 bination. While your walnut trees are growing you get good and quick returns 

 from your alfalfa. The roots of the alfalfa loosen up the soil, carrying nitrogen 

 with them to improve its condition. But on light soil, which is best for alfalfa, 

 the walnuts do not do so well, and on heavier ground you have to be careful to 

 have good drainage. One should by all means use the Royal Hybrid root when 

 growing walnuts with alfalfa. 



On heavy land it is best to plant the trees and let them grow one year before 

 planting alfalfa, thus avoiding the danger of waterlogging the roots on recently 

 olanted trees in irrigating alfalfa. A strip should be cultivated on each side 

 of the walnut rows, or a space dug round the trees to prevent the alfalfa from 

 growing close to the tree, which would be a detriment. 



Before planting the walnuts, the land should be leveled so as to irrigate nicely, 

 and more especially if it is to be interplanted with alfalfa or berries. With alfalfa 

 the checks should be spaced at the distance you wish to plant the trees. 



Pruning the Walnut. The walnut is usually headed higher than 

 ordinary orchard trees, but preference is now given to starting the first 

 branch at about four feet from the ground instead of six feet as for- 

 merly. All the pruning needed is in shaping the tree as described for 

 the fig. Upward trend of the branches should be secured, sometimes 

 by cutting out the shoots which grow downward, sometimes by tying 

 them up for a time to the central stem until they are stiff enough to re- 

 tain this position. Placing branches on the stem according to the prin- 

 ciples advanced in Chapter XII, should be borne in mind. The stem 

 should be protected from sunburn until the foliage accomplishes this. 

 Whenever shoots are killed back by sunburn or frost, they should be 

 cut off cleanly below the black mark which shows how far the injury 



