22 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



planted. Before planting the trees the land should be well plowed and harrowed as 

 for a hoed crop. Trees should be at least _!4 feet apart each way on strong laud. The 

 rows may be lined out to a moderate depth with a two-horse plow, the intersections 

 where the trees are to be set being determined by running cross furrows just ahead 

 of the planting in order that the soil may be freshly turned when the trees are planted. 

 It is a safe rule to set the trees about 1 inch deeper than they stood in the nursery. 

 If dormant buds are planted the ground should not be filled in above the bud until it 

 has grown to the height of a few inches. In all cases the roots should be well spread 

 and fine surface soil should be well distributed between and above them and be 

 securely firmed down to prevent drying out. The orchard culture needs to be thorough 

 for the best results, but should be shallow close to newly set trees as well as in older 

 orchards. Carelessness in regard to this important point often causes irregular and 

 broken orchards. The orchard rows should be perfectly straight and at equal dis- 

 tances apart, as time is thereby saved in culivating the orchard, and much accidental 

 injury to the trees avoided. 



Pruning at planting time is similar to that of the peach, the tree being cut back 

 to a straight stem and the hide branches to a single bud. Webster Treat cuts back 

 his transplanted trees to 1 foot from the ground and forms the head of three branches 

 grown from that point. This secures a larger proportion of bearing wood and tends 

 to keep it nearer the ground. 



Never shorten in as with the peach and apricot; for the almond, like the prune, 

 bears most of its fruit on the long, slender outer branches and the short fruit spurs 

 on the inside of the tree. These inside twigs will not die out as iu the peach and 

 apricot, but live and get more stubby and strong, bearing almonds every year. During 

 the first three years enough pruning is done to shape the trees, and afterwards only to 

 remove objectionable branches. 



Summer pruning is to be avoided. 



It has been found true with the Languedoc, and is suspected in the case of some 

 V other varieties, that the fruitfulness is much increased by planting intermingled varie- 

 ! ties, so as to secure an abundance of pollen at the proper time. Planters will do well 

 to bear this fact in mind in planting orchards. 



AT FRUITING AGE. 



The almond comes into bearing at from two to four years from budding, or at 

 about the same age as the peach, and reaches mature fruitage at from seven to ten 

 years old. The yield varies much, depending upon location, season, age of trees, and 

 varieties. At Colusa, Cal., 2,000 trees of nature age are reported to have produced 

 in 1886 for Alfred M. Newland, 24,000 pounds of hulled nuts, an average of 12 pounds 

 per tree. From one tree he gathered 76 pounds. In 1890 this same orchard averaged 

 5 pounds per tree. The nuts begin to ripen about the middle of August in that 

 latitude. J. J. Leeson, of Socorro, N. Mex., states that he harvested from one tree, in 

 1889, 420 pounds ready for market. A. T. Hatch, of Suisuu, Cal., reports an average 

 yield of from 20 to 30 pounds per tree; Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, Cal., writes: 

 "Ten pounds [per tree] is an excellent crop on the coast; sometimes, of course, it will 

 bear 40 or 50 pounds, but if the whole average 5 pounds it is a good crop." 



PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 

 HARVESTING. 



Gathering the nuts by hand is very tedious work, and is only practiced while the 

 trees are very small. Generally the harvesting is done when somewhat more than 

 half the nuts have burst their hulls; a sheet or canvass is spread beneath the tree, 

 and on this the nuts fall when the tree is shaken. 



