PRUNING THE ALMOND 435 



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 Chapter XX 

 are applicable to the almond. 



The pruning of the almond is more important than formerly 

 thought. 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 usually done 

 except to thin out objectionable branches. 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 danger of allowing the trees 

 to become too dense and to have too little new wood for fruit bear- 

 ing until the tree is cut back all around and a new top is secured 

 upon the old forkings of main branches. This has been successfully 

 done with many old orchards. A wide impression has recently 

 prevailed that the almond has been pruned too little and there 

 seems little doubt that pruning for continuous renewal of bearing 

 wood must be provided. There are widely variant views on the 

 extent to which the policy should be carried. Mr. Leonard Coates 

 of Morgan Hill reached the conclusion that the almond should 

 be pruned like the peach not only started like the peach, but 

 annually pruned after it comes into bearing for the production of 

 new wood, shortening the shoots of new wood and thinning out 

 excess of such shoots to prevent the tree from becoming too brushy. 

 When this is done, he has found for a number of years that trees 

 thus pruned bring regular and heavy crops, while adjacent un- 

 pruned trees have a scanty set of nuts. But growers shrink from 

 such practice because of the considerable cost of it. 



More moderate but still continual pruning is practiced by Mr. 

 J. T. Caldwell of San Joaquin County, who states his method in 

 this way : 



I do not like to wait several years and then butcher my trees. I prune 

 a little every year, watching all the time for limbs that are in the way or 

 getting too thick taking them out entirely, whatever size they may be; 

 but there are seldom any big ones in the way, nor that have to be cut out 

 for any other reason. I figure just on thinning out the brush, taking out 

 the suckers, but never topping back, because that would induce a whippy 

 growth, from which the nuts would be knocked off in windy weather, and 

 the same is true if too many top branches are allowed close together, so 

 that the full force of the wind catches them. 



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. The chief part of the almond 

 crop is grown without irrigation. 



Harvesting Almonds. There is some variation in the methods 

 of handling almonds, and much to be learned by visiting commercial 



