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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



been amply demonstrated by California experience that smooth- 

 paring of the cut made by shears or saw is a waste of time. Large 

 wounds should, however, be covered to prevent checking of the 

 wood and drying back of bark edges. Nothing is better or cheaper 

 for this covering than lead and oil paint, a little thicker than 

 for ordinary use, and applied sparingly, so that it will not run 

 down the bark. 



GATHERING UP PRUNINGS 



Gathering up prunings for burning is tedious and expensive, 

 and several efforts have been made to substitute machinery for 

 hand labor. Anderson's Brush Rake, invented by W. C. Anderson, 

 of San Jose, has been used to some extent. It readily gathers all 

 kinds of tree and vine brush, compresses it considerably and is 

 easily discharged of its load by a slight lift while still going 

 forward. It is said to save about one-half the cost of hand raking. 

 Brush is often gathered into windrows by the use of horse rakes 

 borrowed from the hay field. 



Baling Prunings. There is a fuel value in prunings which has 

 become more clear since pumping for irrigation is so widely prac- 

 ticed, but loose prunings are too expensive in handling. T. G. 

 Rogers, of Winters, has contrived a "brush baler." It is a large 

 strong saw horse inverted, to which is bolted a long, heavy lever. 

 Attached to a cross piece on the lever are four heavy tines bent 

 in a semi-circle. The saw horse is filled with brush, the lever 

 is then pulled down and fastened by a ratchet brake, the brush 

 is forced into a small, compact bundle, and when bound with wire 

 makes a bundle easily handled by the fireman. 



THINNING FRUIT 



Intimately connected with the pruning of bearing trees, is the 

 thinning of the fruit or proper spacing of the individual fruits 

 so that each shall have space and sap to allow its attainment of 

 satisfactory marketable size. It has been fully demonstrated that 

 no demand is profitable which will be content with the undersized 

 fruit from an overladen tree. The superior price for good-sized 

 fruit for all uses, not excluding drying, is unquestionable; the 

 total weight secured may be variable as between thinned and 

 unthinned trees, but it can be accepted as an indisputable fact 

 that any increase of weight there may be upon an unthinned tree 

 will not be nearly an equivalent for the loss in value. It is the 

 conclusion of our largest and most successful growers that, large 

 as is the expenditure required for careful and systematic thinning 

 of fruit, it is the most directly profitable outlay which they have 

 to make for orchard maintenance. 



