44 



Caring for Bearing Orchards- 



Calendar of Operations 



Caprification : 

 Irrigation : 

 Pruning : 



Fertilizing : 

 Cultivating : 



Fumigating 

 Thinning Fruit: 

 Spraying : 



(Smyrna) March and June 



If given, by furro-7s - f'ay -June 



Tc thin out - Novei.iber-Fehruary . 



A little haphazard corar.ercial fertilizing done. 



March -April, plowed tc kill weeds ard harrowed 



dov;n. Cultivated 4 times. Board smooth 



before crop ripens. 

 IJone 



Net done 

 None unless for moss in spring, using lime 



Bordeaux or crude oil emulsion. 



Karvest- 



Time : Fresh- from June 1 to December 1. 

 Dried- August 20 - October 20. 



Methods: For fresh fruit- Picked by hand, carefully severed from 



tree with knife. 

 For dried fruit- Allowed to shrivel on trees and drop off 



on ground. Picked up into 40 or 50# 

 lug boxes and hauled to drier. 



Preparing for Market: 



Fresh : Usually packed in 10#, or sometimes 20# boxes, single 



or 2 layer boxes, v/hen fully ripe. 

 Sometimes pasteboard or wood wool is 

 used for backing. Market limited. 



Dried : Further dried on trays, stacked and covered. After 



7-10 days, dipped in brine, returned 

 tc trays, stacked for one week, then 

 sorted and packed. Adriatic? sulphured, 



Yields- 



Smyrna 



Adriatics 2 1/2 tons 



Good 

 2 tons 



Mission 



— 3 tons 



Usual 



1 1/2 tons 



2 tons 



2 1/2 tons 



NOTE: 



With Smyrnas 1 Capri-fig tree required for every 25 - 50 Smyrnas 



(to produce Blastophaga wasps) . Do not take up orchard space. 

 Figs should be grown for profit v/here both fresh and dried figs are 

 possible. A commercial grower in such sections v/ill probably 

 ship about l/2 of 1^ as fresh fruit (estimated). 

 Commercial Sections - 



Butte County Madera County Sutter County 



Fresno " Merced " Tulare " 



Imperial " Stanislaus " Yuba " 



