BULLETIN 231] WALNUT CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 251 



setback. In planting an orchard to be grown without irrigation the 

 chances of this are very much greater and the objections to planting 

 without cutting back are increased many fold. If the tops are to be 

 cut at all, one thing is clear ; namely, that they should either be cut at 

 the point where the head is to be established; namely, at a height of 

 five or six feet, or if cut lower one sprout must be brought up and 

 formed into a new trunk. Trees cut off five or six feet from the ground 

 are more likely to start well than those not cut at all, but even at this 

 height a long stretch of the old wood remains, which under slightly 

 unfavorable conditions may become sunburned, dried out, or semi-dor- 

 mant. After this has once happened during the time while the root is 

 establishing a new connection with the soil, the flow of the sap becomes 

 sluggish and impeded and the tree cannot develop with full vigor until 

 new wood is formed. 



Observation and experience have led us strongly to the belief that 

 in the long run and in the majority of instances better and more vigor- 

 ous trees will be obtained by cutting back the top fairly close to the 

 ground and bringing up one strong, new shoot to form a new trunk and 

 top of the tree, rather than by attempting to preserve any considerable 

 portion of the original stem. If such cutting is to be done there is no 

 apparent advantage in leaving more than two feet of the original trunk 

 at the most, since the whole idea is based on the belief that it is better 

 to grow a new trunk than to keep the old one. If such is the object 

 desired, there is manifestly no advantage in cutting off at four or three 

 feet, since in such a case we still have remaining a considerable length 

 of wood subject to the objections mentioned, and at the same time a 

 length which would be attained within a few days by a vigorous new 

 shoot. It is, therefore, our belief that the best results will be obtained 

 by cutting the tops back so that there remain simply enough buds to 

 insure one good sprout to form a new stem. This can be obtained by 

 leaving not over eighteen inches or even twelve inches in most cases. 

 It will sound to many extremely radical and unnecessary with nursery 

 trees, some of which may be twelve or fifteen feet in height and two 

 inches in diameter at the base, to cut off these fine tops ruthlessly to 

 a length of only twelve or eighteen inches. Yet, such a tree with a 

 twelve-inch top and a strong, well-branched eighteen- to twenty-four- 

 inch root will send up a shoot which in almost every instance will pro- 

 duce a top superior to that of trees which were left uncut or cut back 

 to a height, say, of five or six feet. Furthermore, the new trunk will 

 be composed of absolutely fresh, vigorous tissue, highly resistant to 

 sunburn, free from die-back, and of the most desirable type in every 

 way. It is, therefore, our well-considered recommendation that in pre- 

 paring walnut trees for planting the tops should be cut off to a length 



