Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany. 343 



irrigation, fertilization, tillage, and pruning, such as is given our orchards 

 along the coast. It is thought by many that the absence of scale and spider 

 is due to the extreme heat, and that citrus trees will ever be free from these 

 pests in these localities. The same was said of the Riverside and Redlands 

 districts, in their early history, when they were isolated from the scale- 

 infested coast orchards, and grew clean without fumigation. Time has 

 changed the view. Scale will live wherever orange trees live. The only 

 thing that will keep it from our hot interior valleys is careful guarding 

 and inspection by the Horticultural Commission, and co-operation on the 

 part of those bringing trees into the country. 



At Palm Springs are some 200 odd trees, varying in age up to eighteen 

 years. It is said that trees, here, were twice cut back to the bare stump 

 in order to save them at all, when the supply of irrigation water gave out. 

 Today these trees are thrifty in appearance and produce three to four 

 boxes of fruit from eighteen-year seedlings and Washington Navels, ripe and 

 sweet for the Thanksgiving market, at a price of $3.50, f. o. b. Orange 

 trees are here conceded to be shy bearers. 



The grape fruit produced on the desert side of the mountains has a fine 

 sweet flavor and a medicinal quality that is iinequaled elsewhere in Califor- 

 nia. The grape fruits of this section vie with those of Florida. One five- 

 year-old tree, at Palm Springs, growing in a yard with no cultivation, no 

 pruning, and scant fertilization, produced three and one-half boxes of fruit 

 for the Thanksgiving market, when prices were about $7 a box. No frost 

 protection has been exercised in this locality, and there has been very slight 

 frost damage. 



At Indio, the advice is not to plant oranges, as the heat and winds 

 cause the crop to fall. Also, the fruit produced is said to be dry and open- 

 celled. All growers questioned, however, stated that oranges bade fair to 

 become a profitable crop, but so much more profit is possible from date and 

 fig culture that there is no object in bothering with citrus fruits. One 

 rancher has 2,000 thrifty orange trees, that were grown and budded by him 

 in the nursery rows, now ready to plant in orchard form. 



Near Mecca are two orchards of note. One is a three-year-old, ten- 

 acre grove that is too young to serve as a test, but has made a remarkable 

 growth for three-year trees. The other comprises some sixty to seventy acres 

 south of Mecca, that have been planted for six years. The story of these 

 trees is as follows: The trees were planted when two years from the bud, 

 and set with the bud two to four inches below the surface of the ground. 

 This caused gum disease that was later cured by uncovering the crown, 

 and by proper care in watering. After having been tended for a year, one 

 orchard was practically abandoned for fear of inundation from the Salton 

 Sea. Only one Indian was left to care for the whole place. At the end of 

 the second year it changed hands, and was given water and cultivation for 

 two years. Then the surface roots were all uncovered and chopped off, 



