1894.] ESSAYS. 31 



eountoraction of the tendenc}' to over-bearing, (a) The picking off 

 of blossoms or bnds. This is slow and expensive. Spraying to kill 

 the blossoms in part might be substituted. I have not known trials 

 of this. The copper solutions would undoubtedly accomplish it, but it 

 would require considerable skill to apply in due proportion. But the 

 real hindrance to this is the almost universal feeling that a bird in 

 hand is worth two in the bush, and that, we will get the most possible 

 this year and run our chances for the next. We may not live till next 

 year. It is too much a sacrifice of ourselves for posterity. 



(b) Another remedy is pruning. This is a vexed question. Cali- 

 foruians do not prune orange-trees. They may yet wish they had done 

 it. There seems to be a tendency at present among pomologists to 

 discourage pruning of trees like apple, pear and cherry, except to cut 

 off dying or dead wood . My own impression is that we have in our 

 practice gone to extremes, — either have not pruned at all or too much 

 in one year. We may learn a lesson from the breaking down of trees 

 bj' the weight of clinging ice a few years ago. They recuperated won- 

 derfully, but the new shoots grew, so rapidly that they were tender, 

 and could not the next year bear much weight of fruit, neither mature 

 all that clung to them. If new shoots were pruned each year on the 

 same principle that we prune grape-vines — say so as to leave the new 

 wood only a few inches in length, I think it would be a decided advan- 

 tage. I have tried this with pears to some extent and with Clapp, 

 Bartlett, Beurre D'Anjou and Sheldon, found it useful. The tendency 

 of all these varieties is to throw out long shoots at the top of the tree, 

 especially if the trees are crowded, and then when these trees bear, be 

 it the first or the second year thereafter, they are too heavily laden. 

 A combination of pruning and deflowering might be wisely practiced. 

 Has anyone tried it systematically? I should like to know. 



3. Drought in the early pairt of a season may prevent the develop- 

 ment of fruit, or drought in the midsummer may hinder the storing of 

 materials for the next year's crop. There is no question but irrigation 

 for all but the deepest-rooted trees in California and other western 

 States gives fruit growers in those regions an advantage. With water 

 at their command they can adapt its quantity to the needs of the crop 

 and thus secure a perfection in the development of fruit which in the 

 East it is not always possible to attain. 



4. The fourth cause to be mentioned is variability of temperature 

 at the time of flowering. Frost at this time certainly ruins the pros- 

 pect of fruit. It may cut off the crop entirely, or it may result in a 

 crop of inferior quality, as in the case of oranges at Riverside, Call- 



