j2? CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



thing to keep the wood from checking and decaying. It has been 

 amply demonstrated by California experience that smooth-paring of 

 the cut made by shears or saw is a waste of time. Large wounds 

 should, however, be covered to prevent checking of the wood and 

 drying back of bark edges. For this covering lead and oil paint 

 may be used a little thicker than for ordinary use, and applied 

 sparingly, so that it will not run down the bark. Asphaltum, 

 "Grade D," applied warm, is now widely approved. It can be very 

 satisfactorily applied with a brush made by cutting up baling rope 

 into 14-inch lengths, bundling them to the thickness of one and a 

 half inches, and winding with string tightly at intervals of one inch 

 from top to bottom, only one end being frayed out to form a brush. 

 As fast as this end wears off, one of the strings can be cut to give 

 renewed length to the frayed end. 



GATHERING UP PRUNINGS 



Gathering up prunings for burning is tedious and expensive, and 

 several efforts have been made to substitute machinery for hand 

 labor. Anderson's Brush Rake, invented by W. C. Anderson, of San 

 Jose, has been used to some extent. It readily gathers all kinds of 

 tree and vine brush, compresses it considerably and is easily dis- 

 charged of its load by a slight lift while still going forward. It is 

 said to save about one-half the cost of hand raking. Brush is often 

 gathered into windrows by the use of horse rakes borrowed from 

 the hay field. 



Baling Prunings. There is a fuel value in prunings which has 

 become more clear since pumping for irrigation is so widely prac- 

 ticed, but loose prunings are too expensive in handling. T. G. 

 Rogers, of Winters, has contrived a "brush baler." It is a large 

 strong saw-horse inverted, to which is bolted a long, heavy lever. 

 Attached to a cross piece on the lever are four heavy tines bent in a 

 semi-circle. The saw-horse is filled with brush, the lever is then 

 pulled down and fastened by a ratchet brake, the brush is forced 

 into a small, compact bundle, and when bound with wire makes a 

 bundle easily handled by the fireman. 



Prunings for Fertilizing. Although many propositions for re- 

 turning prunings to the soil and several machines for cutting have 

 been used, such practice has never widely prevailed because of cost 

 of labor involved. Several growers have, however, used a heavy 

 feed cutter, run by a gasoline engine, and both mounted on a 

 wagon-bed, and run through the orchard after pruning. Two men 

 pick up prunings and feed them into the cutter as the wagon slowly 

 proceeds. This waste from an evergreen tree seems to decay very 

 readily in the soil as it is covered in by cultivation. 



PRUNING TOOLS 



There is some difference of opinion as to the comparative value 

 of the pruning knife and the pruning shears. The knife, if sharp, and 

 well used, makes a smooth cut, with no bruising of the bark, and 



