CALIFORNIA OLIVE CULTURE PRUNING. 35 



increase of these ladybirds which have been imported from Aus- 

 tralia, and which we hope will do the work, it will be necessary 

 to have a large amount of brush near the ground, and the 

 question is which is better, to promote the increase of the lady- 

 birds that are going to keep the black scale in check, or scientific 

 pruning of the trees? I cut the top of the tree back, but I am 

 now cultivating brush. I want it to hang down on the ground 

 so as to absolutely preserve the eggs that are laid by the lady- 

 birds, and also to protect the early stages of the larvse. This 

 is necessary. If there are many birds they pick the lady- 

 birds and carry them off, and that will defeat the object; so 

 that now I am not pruning an olive tree as it should be pruned, 

 but am pruning it to preserve the parasitic insects that will 

 keep the tree clean. I hope to avoid the expense of spraying.* 

 If this can be accomplished, certainly we can produce olive oil 

 at least one third less, or perhaps at fifty per cent of the present 

 cost. The great trouble with me has been with kerosene oil 

 ordering it by the carloads from Cleveland, Ohio, and washing, 

 washing, continually. It is very expensive, and so long as 

 the present method of spraying trees is kept up, as a matter of 

 course the more pruning, the more sunlight, the more air the 

 tree is given the easier it is to keep the black scale in check 

 and secure a crop. But with the parasitic insect, with the dif- 

 ferent kinds of ladybirds, this brush is wanted near the ground 

 to protect them not pruning olive trees, but cultivating lady- 

 birds. I have changed my method." 



Question: "Do you cut the trees back?" 



"Yes, every year." 



Question: "At what time do you cut them?" 



"I cut them all the time." 



Question: "How high do you keep your trees generally?" 



"The trees that were pruned formerly were not cut back; 

 they are thirty feet high." 



Question: " How high would you keep them ?" 



"I had hoped to keep them at twenty feet, but doubt whether 

 it can be done. I commence when they are not more than ten 

 feet and clip off; always a little higher each time." 



Question: "Does this cause them to grow like a willow?" 



"The Mission is a very symmetrical tree. It grows into a 



*Since then the ladybird Rhizobius ventralis has practically exterminated 

 the black scale in his orchards. 



