450 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



it impossible to do this in the nursery because if it is attempted 

 to form a head 18 or 24 inches along the upper portion of the stem 

 instead of one bunched near the top of it, the lower branches will 

 appropriate most of the sap and the upper portion will not be 

 well developed; while if this upper story is well established in 

 the nursery the lower portion can be built on without detriment 

 to the upper, if nutriment sufficient for both is furnished. Fig. 

 4 will show approximately the branch-form of the young tree at 

 about six months from planting and the shoots with which the 

 building-down is begun. The first step is to check the drooping 

 habit. Upon this point Mr. Reed says : 



The common notion that the branch Df the Navel orange naturally tends 

 down is a mistake which grows out of uie fact that in its rapid growth the 

 new part of the stems and large leaves are so loaded with sap that they pull 

 the stems from their natural upright position, and, unless relieved, hold them 

 there till the deposit of woody fiber fixes the branches in the drooping or 

 unnatural position. If the tips of these rapidly growing branches, with their 

 heavy leaves, be clipped at the right time, the branches will spring back to the 

 erect position, where they will remain to send out new branchlets. It is won- 

 derful how the orange tree can be molded like a thing of wax by pinching and 

 clipping here and there, if done at the right time. 



Fig. 5 shows the result of this clipping of heavy shoots to 

 allow them to assume a more upright growth and the encour- 

 agement of new shoots below the two-foot mark. Fig. 6 gives 

 the branch-form of a five-year-old tree, with its lower story of 

 bearing wood well developed, and Fig. 7 is the foliage-form of 

 the same tree, about fifteen feet high, with its leaves and fruit 

 reaching to the ground. As to how low the branches should be 

 allowed, Mr. Reed says that until recently he has thought it best 

 to keep the lower branches clipped back so that the fruit would 

 not touch the ground, but he is persuaded that it is better to let 

 them come to the ground even if considerable fruit rests on it. 

 He finds that many of the best orchardists do this, and claim 

 that there are really less culls among the fruit on the ground 

 than on the less-protected branches above. 



Later Pruning of the Orange. After the form of the orange 

 is well established the aim should be to preserve a compact, sym- 

 metrical and convenient form. It is desirable that weak wood 

 should be removed ; dead interior branches, which have given up 

 the struggle for the light, should also be removed. It is an 

 appalling undertaking to get into the inside of an old orange 

 tree and saw off and drag out the dead wood but, as already stated, 

 the conviction is growing that this should be done. Of the grow- 

 ing shoots there is a reasonable amount of thinning to be done. 

 The clipping back of ambitious shoots multiplies laterals. There 

 should be a good cover of leaves, but the crowding of leaves on 

 leaves excludes light and air and weakens the tree by lessening 





