CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



There is also a considerable demand for plums by the canners 

 who do not use, however, the varieties in chief demand for ship- 

 ping. 



LOCALITIES FOR THE PLUM 



The plum has an exceedingly wide range in California. The 

 trees are thrifty and profitable even from the immediate vicinity 

 of the coast and in coast valleys, where the sea winds and fogs 

 intrude, eastward across the great .interior valleys, and upwards 

 upon the sides of the Sierra Nevada. In the upper half of the 

 State, at least, wherever there is sufficient moisture in the soil, 

 good plums can be grown. The tree is quite hardy, but in situa- 

 tions open to sweep of the winds there has been found to be decided 

 advantage in belts of sheltering trees for protection. At some 

 points subject to direct coast influences, there is sometimes loss 

 by cracking of the fruit. It is seldom encountered in the interior val- 

 ley, except near the rivers or in draws where the damp coast 

 air makes its way through. It seems to be worst where there are 

 marked differences in atmospheric humidity within short periods 

 of time. Where the percentage is quite uniformly high or low 

 there seems to be less trouble. Some years conditions usually 

 restricted to more exposed coast situations prevail in the interior 

 valley, and the result is unusual prevalence of mildew and other 

 moist fungi and cracking of fruit also, though they have no rela- 

 tion to each other except that the same conditions favor both. 

 Only certain varieties are thus affected, and they can be avoided 

 where the trouble is found to exist. 



It was for a long time held that southern California was not 

 adapted to the growth of the plum, but the experience of the last 

 few years has shown that the conclusion was too broad. The 

 "French prune" demonstrated its success adjacent to the coast 

 in Santa Barbara County, and elsewhere, in the low, rich lands of 

 the Santa Ana Valley, of Orange County, in the interior at various 

 points on the rim of the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles 

 County, notably at Pomona, and still farther inland in the San 

 Bernardino Valley, but the Southern California prune product is 

 small because the land and water can be more profitably used for 

 other fruits. There is, however, difficulty in some dry uplands 

 where the tree is shy in fruiting and subject to serious gumming; 

 but this is encountered locally in all parts of the State. Irrigation 

 does not always overcome these troubles, and yet, no doubt, the 

 arrangement of proper moisture conditions is important. The 

 tree should be helped to make one good growth and to ripen its 

 wood in the fall. To have growth checked by drouth and a sec- 

 ond start made later in the season is not desirable. 



