THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



263 



Barbara is well known as headquarters for the pro- 

 duction of pampas plumes (Gynerium argenteum) 

 and although the demand has been rather light of 

 late, it nevertheless is a source of profit. Of other 

 grasses, dried flowers and leaves, there are a number 

 that might be experimented with to advantage.'' 



HUNTING FOR NEW VARIETIES. 



MANY of the best fruits known to horticulture 

 originated as "chance seedlings." The in- 

 finite diversity of conditions under which 

 products of the earth may come forth must some- 

 times result in improved varieties, and careful watch 

 upon the sportive moods of nature has often enabled 

 the soil tiller to introduce to mankind a most desira- 

 ble fruit of some sort, while at the same time putting 

 money in his purse. There is a certain element of 

 speculative uncertainty in the efforts to produce 

 choice varieties from seeds that attracts many enthu- 

 siastic men, and the result is almost yearly to bring 

 out new varieties of value. Much has been done in 

 the way of improving the potato. It is not unlikely 

 that could Sir Walter Raleigh look upon the massive 

 tubers of to-day he would fail to recognize them as of 

 the same family with the insignificant affairs he 

 planted in his garden in Ireland some three hundred 

 years ago. From the splendid results attained the 

 greatest encouragement to further effort should be 

 felt by the experimenters. In growing potatoes from 

 seed balls, an intelligent experimenter gives his 

 methods substantially as stated below. In order to 

 procure the best seed the balls should be fully ma- 

 tured and the seed ripe. The seed may be rubbed 

 from the dry balls by hand and should be put away 

 in a dry place until required for planting in the 

 spring. The plants are best propagated from seed 

 by sowing the latter in shallow boxes of convenient 

 dimensions, filled with finely pulverized soil. Such 

 boxes should be placed in a sunny spot and suffi- 

 ciently watered and properly tended until the seeds 

 germinate. When the plants are four or five inches 

 in height they should be transplanted to carefully 

 prepared beds, allowing six inches apart. The plants 

 must be well tended, and in the fall they will show 

 small tubers at the ends of the roots. Plant these 

 until the next season, in a favorable location, care- 

 fully cultivate and await results. The true value of 

 the progeny of these first plantings may not be ap- 

 parent in the first or second generation, and it may 

 be best to make careful selections for planting each 

 year for three or four years in order to give a satis- 

 factory test, taking note of desirable peculiarities as 

 they may appear in the course of the experiments. 

 While many and repeated experiments in this direc- 

 tion may not yield any results of value, still there is 

 always the "gamble '' that something choice may be 

 evolved. Ten thousand peach seedlings have been 

 brought to the fruiting stage to find that only one 

 possessed superior merit, but this one paid the whole 

 bill and much more. The same may be true of al- 

 most any fruit or plant. 



PRUNING DECIDUOUS TEEES. 



IN the Sacramento valley, where we have the long 

 hot seasons, the one custom has been adopted of 

 low pruning ; and this custom, I may say, applies 

 to all varieties of fruit trees, including citrus varieties, 

 with two objects in view, namely: First, to keep 

 the bodies or trunks of the trees from sunburnmg. 

 Second, to lessen the expense of thinning and picking 



the fruit. The first, however, is of much the greater 

 importance. 



When setting out a new orchard my plan of prun- 

 ing the young tree from the nursery is to cut the top 

 back to fifteen or eighteen inches ; at the same time 

 examine all the roots, see that all bruised or man- 

 gled roots are cut off, and also cut back the long, 

 scraggy roots that they may not be placed in the 

 ground doubled or curled up. This treatment ap- 

 plies to all varieties of deciduous trees. During the 

 first year's growth we watch the new shoots as they 

 come out, and cut enough of the new growth to only 

 leave from four to six of the stronger shoots to form 

 the top of the tree, this being the first year's growth. 



The following spring we cut this growth back one- 

 half, sometimes thinning these branches down to 

 three or four as the case may require, to make the 

 tree well balanced and of proper shape. 



The tree now starting out in its third year's 

 growth is a time when the grower can assist nature 

 in forming a perfect tree by thinning out the new 

 growth during the summer months, pulling off 

 suckers that may start below the main branches or 

 limbs that were left to form the tree. This is time 

 when good judgment must be used in pruning, for the 

 foundation of the tree is laid and we come to the 

 point when we prune for fruit. 



So far as my experience extends, the following 

 varieties of trees will stand what we call heavy prun- 

 ing : The peach, the apricot, Bartlett pear, apple, 

 nectarines and most varieties of plums. The French 

 prune and cherry I would not prune heavily after the 

 third year. My reason for pruning the first named 

 varieties heavily is to make a stocky growth, that the 

 tree may be able to support a heavy load. Their 

 nature is to produce a long, slender growth unless cut 

 back from year to year. 



I wish to speak of the peach more especially, for I 

 think there are more mistakes made in the pruning 

 of the peach than of any other one variety. By 

 care and good judgment in pruning the peach, we 

 may prolong its life many years. Prune every year, 

 cutting back and thinning out the center, using 

 great care not to cut out too many of the little fruit 

 spurs growing on the main branches, but cutting 

 out the slender branches of the old wood, leaving as 

 many branches of the new growth as the tree will 

 support. In this case judgment must be used as to 

 what the tree will support; the soil may be wet or 

 dry, rich or poor, the grower must be the judge. 



To grow small, fruit, prune light. To grow large 

 fruit, prune with care and judgment. To get this 

 required judgment you must have some practical ex- 

 perience. The oldest and most practical grower of 

 this State might write pages after pages on the sub- 

 ject of pruning, and when the new planter who 

 wishes to start an orchard from the proceeds of his 

 office (and we have many orchardists of this kind in 

 California) will tell his hired help to prune his trees 

 as Smith or Jones, for that is the rule laid down in 

 " California Fruits " (Wickson). These planters or 

 growers will in a few years want to sell their orchards, 

 for, as I said in the beginning, we have too much 

 theoretical pruning, which causes more expense and 

 generally brings the grower more in debt from year 

 to year. 



When pruning is properly done it will assist in a 

 great measure the work of thinning the fruit. , As an 

 example of this work I would refer to the orchards of 

 Vacaville. There the pruning is done with the object 



