ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFORNIA. 



61 



PRUNING IMPLEMENTS REQUIRED. A 

 pair of gloves to protect the hands from 

 the thorns; a sharp knife, a small saw, and 

 some paint or wax to cover the stubs of 

 large branches; this is the outfit for a 

 pruner. The pruning shears are much in 

 use, but I do not like them except for clip- 

 ping the ends of branches. When applied 

 to severing a branch at the trunk, they 

 leave a stub which is not to be tolerated, 

 and if this be pared away by the knife the 

 work is doubled. If one prunes his trees 

 from their youth up, he grows in knowl- 

 edge with them, so to speak, and while 

 they are never much at fault, he is never 

 at great loss to know how they should be 

 treated. But to undertake the pruning of 

 older trees which have been allowed to 

 grow half wild, and bring them to a state 

 of civilization there's the rub. It is vastly 

 better, of course, that they should never 

 reach that vexatious stage, but when such 

 is the case there is nothing for it but 

 heroic treatment. When Governor Stone- 

 man purchased his estate in San Gabriel, 

 fifteen or twenty years ago, the grove of 

 old oranges on the place was almost un- 

 productive. He sent his foreman into it 

 with knife and saw, under instructions to 

 prune out half of the tops. After perform- 

 ing his task the man reported to the Gov- 

 ernor, stating by the way that he though 

 he had ruined the trees. Governor Stone- 

 man took a look at the orchard and sent 

 him back to prune still further. The re- 

 sult was that the next year there was a fine 

 crop of oranges. 



PRUNING- YOUNG TREES. The best plan 

 is to go over them quite frequently as 

 much as three or four times a year and 

 prune lightly each time. 



TIME OF PRUNING. Whenever the tree 

 is in a dormant condition it may be pruned 

 advantageously. December is a popular 

 time for this work; also late in the spring 

 before the heavy July - August growth 

 commences, and just following the gather- 

 ing of the oranges. 



THUMB PRUNING. This consists of rub- 

 bing off with thumb or finger shoots be- 

 fore they form any woody fiber. The 

 practice is quite allowable, and indeed to 

 be commended under certain restrictions. 

 On general principles, it conduces more to 

 the welfare of the tree to stop an undesir- 



able limb before it has made much growth 

 than to let it grow on only to be sacrificed 

 at last with greater shock and loss of vital- 

 ity to the tree. But I would advise great 

 conservatism in pruning young trees just 

 starting. This is a critical time with the 

 tree and it needs a breathing surface. If 

 the leaves which it throws out for this 

 purpose should happen to be in the wrong 

 place, it is often better to leave them until 

 the tree gets it breath, i. e., hardens its 

 new growth and makes other leaves to 

 elaborate its sap. Anything approaching 

 a general pruning of an orange tree while 

 making new growth should be avoided, as 

 the operation is likely to check all further 

 growth for that period and may stunt the 

 tree. 



PRUNING OLDER TREES. The novice 

 looking at a neglected tree, with its tangle 

 of branches, is dumbfounded with the task 

 of pruning. Let him but go at the work 

 systematically, however, and he will find 

 the plan of the mighty maze. 



A FEW RULES FOR PRUNING. 1st. Be- 

 gin at the ground and cut away all suckers 

 growing from the crown of the roots. Dig, 

 if necessary, to the place where the sucker 

 issues from the root and cut away the little 

 protuberance from which the sprout grows . 



2d. Cut away all water-sprouts growing 

 from the trunk of the tree. Remove the 

 knots or little protuberances here also, 

 paring smooth with the trunk. 



3d. Work along the trunk into the top of 

 the tree, and cut away all small, dwarfed 

 branches which have neither vitality to 

 make a large growth nor room to make 

 it in. 



4th. Lop off such main branches as 

 throw the top out of equilibrium or de- 

 stroy its symmetry. 



5th. Cut away all minor branches that 

 are superfluous. Consider a branch super- 

 fluous (a) when it crosses another or con- 

 flicts with another in any way; (6) when 

 it grows directly above another, and would 

 at some future time, conflict it; (c) when 

 there are parallel branches too close to- 

 gether, a part must be taken away; (d) 

 when a number of branches have put out 

 from the end of a shortened limb, one, 

 two or three only should be left. 



Oth. Having thinned the top sufficiently 



