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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



with the least trouble. Apple seeds are washed out from the 

 pomace of the cider press ; apples and pears from the coring and 

 peelings of canneries and drying establishments; pits of the stone 

 fruits are derived from the same source. Supplies can usually be 

 purchased from such establishments at a moderate cost. The 

 trouble is that from such supplies one is apt to get seeds and pits 

 from all varieties, possessing different degrees of health and vigor. 

 There is just as much to be gained from selecting the seed from 

 which to grow good strong stocks for fruit trees as there is in 

 selecting good garden or field seed. One can generally get good 

 peach pits, for it is easy to have the order filled when the cannery 

 is running on strong-growing yellow varieties, for these are believed 

 to be most vigorous, and yet some claim much preference for pits 

 from vigorous seedling trees, and make extra efforts to secure 

 them. Wherever it is possible, and if one is only to produce a 

 small lot of trees, it is practicable to select from the fruit the seeds 

 for planting. Not only is there great difference in the strength 

 of different varieties, but in dividual trees vary greatly. If one is 

 taking seed from an old orchard to start his nursery with, he can 

 take pains to get his seed from his strongest trees, and thus secure 

 also that which is probably best adapted to his locality. 



Apple and Pear Seedlings. For a small lot of apple and pear 

 trees the seed can be best sown in boxes. Select plump pips and 

 keep in moist sand, from the time they are taken from the fruit 

 until sowing. Fill the boxes, which should be there or four inches 

 deep, with good garden mold, cover the seed about half an inch, 

 and then cover the soil lightly with chaff or fine straw to prevent 

 the surface from drying out. Be sure that the boxes have cracks 

 or holes in the bottom for drainage, and the whole is kept moist 

 but not wet. When the seedlings have grown to the height ol 

 three inches, they can be set out in the nursery rows as one would 

 set out cabbage plants. 



Cherry Seedlings. There are different ways of handling pits 

 of stone fruits to prepare them for setting out in open ground, 

 which will be described. The cherry is grown from pits of two 

 wild varieties; one is commonly called the "Black Mazzard." It 

 is the common wild cherry of the East, and is the original type ot 

 what are known as the Heart and Bigarreau types of cherries. 

 The other is the "Mahaleb," a European wild species, which is 

 used in the East, where it thrives better than the Mazzard, as it is 

 hardier stock. In this State the Mahaleb does not seem to have 

 much dwarfing effect, as trees on that stock in this State over 

 twenty-five years old are twenty-five inches in diameter of trunk. 

 The Mahaleb, however, ripens its wood earlier, and for this reason 

 may be valuable in the colder parts of the State. It is also freer 

 Horn root trouble by extremes of wetness and drouth in the soil 



