DRY-LAND ORCHARDING 39 



RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT. 



The results of the experiment are, briefly stated, good 

 trees and little fruit. The small yield was due chiefly to 

 three causes — (1) irregular winters and late frosts, (2) 

 high winds and hail-storms, and (3) the planting of many 

 varieties not adapted to so southerly a climate. 



Other agencies that interfered with the success of the 

 orchard are birds, plant-lice, crown-gall, chlorosis, and 

 pear-blight. Woodpeckers and mocking-birds damaged or 

 destroyed much fruit, even attacking it before it was ripe. 

 With a large orchard or more nearly simultaneous ripening 

 of the crop the loss from this cause would have been much 

 smaller. Aphids, or plant-lice, were very destructive to 

 the American plums, sometimes causing the loss of the 

 entire crop and injuring the trees besides. Fortunately 

 they did not attack the Japanese varieties. Some of the trees 

 became affected with chlorosis, probably due to an excess of 

 lime in the soil. All of these cases were promptly cured 

 by the addition of one or more pounds of copperas, dis- 

 solved in water, to the soil. Blight appeared at times on 

 all the pear trees, except those of the Kieffer variety, but 

 did no serious damage. Crown-gall was found on several 

 of the peach-trees, but it had little noticeable effect on 

 their health. Sun-scald was practically absent, except on 

 decrepit trees. Immunity from this trouble, so common 

 in cultivated trees, was due to low, spreading crowns, in- 

 duced by a rational method of pruning. 



THE MOST SUCCESSFUL VARIETIES. 



The most successful varieties of plums were found to 

 be Hale, Burbank, Gonzales, and Wickson — all Japanese 

 varieties except Gonzales, which is a cross (Japanese and 

 American.) 



Hale makes a strong growth, thrives in shallow soil, and 

 exceeds the other varieties in longevity. It bears regu- 

 larly, but not always a full crop. The fruit, which begins 

 to ripen toward the close of May, is medium-sized, sweet, 

 and juicy. 



