20 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



them. After the big wind of last November they were all lying prone on the 

 ground, the trunks being too weak to support the tops. In the judgment of others 

 as well as myself, the only sensible thing was to grub them all out, but this 

 seemed a hard and drastic thing to do, so we finally decided to give them one 

 more chance by a resort to severe pruning. We had noted when limbs had been 

 broken or cut off, that the new growth was always straighter and stronger than the 

 original. Our hope was that by making practically all the growth new we could 

 strengthen and straighten the trees and help them to overcome the droopy, vinelike 

 tendency so far shown. Hie plan worked even better than hoped for. Today they 

 are healthy looking, the trunks have become strong, while the trees themselves, I 

 am sure, are larger than they would have been had they not been cut back. In 

 our pruning we left little more than the bare trunks ; just a small amount of foliage 

 here and there to keep the trees from dying. 



The question of pruning has been one that the Avocado grower has ap- 

 proached timidly. With no experience or recognized practice to guide him he has 

 hesitated for fear of ruining his trees, though nearly all, and especially the budded 

 trees, have needed it badly. The one variety, in my experience, which shapes 

 itself almost perfectly without pruning, is the Taft. I think this question has been 

 quite satisfactorily solved, however, by Mr. P. D. Barnhart. His trees at the 

 Danziger place, Beverly Hills, are the most perfectly shaped of any I have seen. 

 His rule, briefly stated, is to keep the tree down, never allowing it to get taller 

 than it is v^dde. 



There is much more to say about pruning for which I have neither space nor 

 qualification to speak. A paper on this subject by Mr. Barnhart would be very 

 valuable to Avocado growers. 



As a final word to amateur growers, let me warn against killing your trees 

 with kindness. Too much water in heavy soils and over-fertilization have caused 

 the loss of many trees. The Avocado does not need so much water, according to 

 size, as a citrus tree, and will never tolerate standing with its roots in soggy, sour 

 soil. Do not fertilize very young trees. They do not need it, and are oftener 

 injured or killed in this way than benefitted. Except in the poorest of soils, fruit 

 trees in general do not require fertilization until they are bearing. 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHARACTER OF THE STOCK ON 

 TREE GROWTH IN CITRUS PROPAGATION 



HERBERT J. WEBBER, HARTSVILLE. SOUTH CAROLINA 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Why should a paper on a purely citrus subject be presented before the Cali- 

 fornia Avocado Association? Because it is an opportune time for avocado growers 

 to take stock of the subject to be presented and secondarily, because many of you 

 are interested also in citrus culture. As the subject is presented I think you vsrill 

 discover that it is of as much interest to avocado growers as to citrus growers. 

 With this explanation of the subject, I will proceed with the discussion. 



Why do some trees in a citrus grove remain dwarfs, or grow slowly and pro- 

 duce few fruits while others grow well and are very fruitful? Why are some 

 groves uniformly composed of good trees while others are composed of trees of 

 various sizes and degrees of fruitfulness. Mr. A. D. Shamel of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has emphasized the relation of the character of the buds used 

 in propagation to this variability in orchards and has rightly urged the importance 



