52 



ROBBING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



This is a section of a sixty-acre Mission Olive orchard, belonging to the author, located near Exeter, Tulare County. 

 These seven-year-old trees amply illustrate the results obtained by a systematic method of pruning. 



In case of a heavy crop these branches, being without 

 any natural braces, which would have developed by 

 pruning, will bend over and in many instances break 

 off. After a number of years the shearing off of the 

 small laterals will cause many so-called "crow's-nests" to 

 form in the trees, and the new growth will be rather weak. 

 It will be at least fifteen years before the trees will 

 reach this stage, but when they do there should be no 

 hesitancy in cutting them back severely and thinning 

 vigorously, to promote a strong, new growth. Even 

 before this age the trees will have a large amount of 

 inside growth, which, when it is no longer productive, 

 should be cut out entirely. This does not mean neces- 

 sarily that the trees should be thinned out like a peach, 

 for this would be a mistake, but that wood which indi- 

 cates by its appearance that it has lost its vitality should 

 be removed, for it will soon be replaced by new wood. 



STOCKS 



It has been the prevailing practice since olives were 

 planted in California to raise them from cuttings. The 

 trees planted by the Mission Fathers in San Diego in 

 the year 1769 were undoubtedly started from cuttings 

 or possibly from truncheons. What is a truncheon? It 

 will be observed that old olive trees have large pro- 

 tuberances on the body of the tree. If these are gouged 

 out with their woody fiber ard planted with the rough- 



wood side down and about eight inches below the sur- 

 face of the soil, every one of them will grow. Numerous 

 sprouts will start from this knob, all of which after 

 they are three feet high should be removed, leaving 

 one. Cut this back to two feet from the ground for 

 the purpose of starting a head at this point. The same 

 method was unquestionably followed in growing the 

 trees in later years. They were not, I am quite sure, 

 started from seeds, although some writers claiming a 

 great variation in the Mission olive say it is due to this 

 fact. The same statement might have been made in 

 behalf of the Mission fig. As a matter of fact the seeds 

 of all figs were hollow until the fig wasp was introduced 

 and established in the author's caprifig trees in 1899. 

 In my many years close study of the olive, I have 

 never seen but one variety of Mission olive. The 

 practice in California for over twenty-five 3 r ears has 

 been to grow olive trees from soft tips, which are 

 rooted in a greenhouse in sand. Practically all the com- 

 mercial orchards in California have been started from 

 trees grown in this manner. Quite a number of varie- 

 ties are difficult to root by this method. In fact, with 

 the Sevillano and Ascolano it is next to impossible to 

 secure a stand with cuttings. Whether the trees grown 

 from the seed of the Redding Picholine and Chamlaly 

 and budded, are any better is an open question. The 

 claim is made that the trees have a better root system 



