CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Pruning the French Prune. Growers of the French prune, and 

 other varieties of similar growth of strong and pliable wood, have 

 reached substantial agreement as to the best practice. The old 

 method of cutting back bearing trees has been abandoned. Cutting 

 back the young tree to secure sufficient low branching is followed 

 by thinning of shoots from this low head so that the tree shall not 

 become too dense or carry too much bearing wood. ^The strength 

 in the head depends upon proper spacing and arrangement of the 

 branches as insisted upon in Chapter XII; and large, well-ripened 

 fruit, which is essential to successful and profitable drying, is con- 

 ditioned upon avoiding excess of branches and admission of suffi- 

 cient light to the tree but in the interior valley care must be taken 

 not to open the center of the tree too much. 



A rather longer central stem is retained than in the old style, 

 and a central stem throughout is admissible if one prefers it and 

 does not desire to dispenstwith it as the first step toward securing 

 a more open tree. Some retain the longer stem at planting, others 

 cut back to eighteen inches, develop three side branches upon that 

 and train the branch from the top bud for a lengthening of the stem, 

 and bring out more branches upon that the second year, and then 

 dispense with its farther extension. The adjacent engravings show 

 this method of developing the head of a young French prune. The 

 tree was cut back at planting in orchard to a straight switch about 

 eighteen inches high. At the end of the first summer this showed 

 the form in the first picture, which is marked (with short cross 

 lines) for the first winter pruning. The second engraving shows 

 the branching developed from this during the second summer's 

 growth, also marked to prune away some undesirable branches. 

 Upon a tree of this form further cutting back is not desirable as it 

 has enough well-placed branches to form the tree. 



How long cutting back shall continue depends partly upon the 

 locality and partly upon the notion of the owner. In interior locali- 

 ties the tree grows with great rapidity and branches more freely. 

 During the third summer it will bear some fruit if not cut back the 

 previous winter, and, where growth is so rapid, there is little danger 

 of injuring the tree by early bearing. In the coast valleys cutting 

 back may continue another year, and fruiting be thus postponed a 

 year to get another summer's freer wood growth. There are, how- 

 ever, very good orchards in which the trees were only cut back two 

 years, and summer pinching and winter thinning of shoots and re- 

 moval of suckers have given good results. 



Though cutting back may properly cease early with the French 

 prune, it is a great mistake to allow the trees to go unpruned. 

 Removal of defective wood, prevention of branch crowding and 

 overbearing are of the highest importance, as insisted upon in 

 Chapter XII. Removing surplus laterals at their starting points, 

 and cutting back leaders to laterals already grown and not to en- 

 courage new branching, will result in a more open tree, which is 

 generally very desirable. 



Renewal of French Prunes. When a French prune tree gets old 

 and set in an unprofitable way it may be necessary to cut back for 



