84 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



Hatch- Arm strong Fruit and Nut Co., Acampo, write : "After using your huller for two 

 years we are satisfied that it is all you claim for it." 



E. W. Hammon, Superintendent Oak Shade Fruit Co, Davisville, writes: "I am well 

 pleased with its work. We have finished the Nonpareils and I X L's, and I cannot 

 see but what they look as well as though hulled by hand." 



W. H. Marden, of Davisville, writes : " It is a saving of 40 or 50 per cent over the old 

 method of hulling by hand." 



Anderson Bros., of Davisville, write: "We have used your huller for two years, and 

 can cheerfully recommend it to any one who has almonds to hull." 



General John Bidwell, of Chico, writes of the huller: "Out of 70,000 pounds of ' stick- 

 tight' almonds, the machine did not break or seriously injure to exceed one per cent of 

 the meats." 



Mr. Sprague : What is the capacity of your huller? 



Mr. Read : We manufacture the machine in two sizes — one to be 

 operated by hand with a capacity of one ton per day, and the other, a power 

 machine, with a capacity of three tons per day. Of course the capacity 

 varies, according to the condition and varieties. I would advise having 

 the machine with a capacity of three tons a day. I sent one to Mr. 

 A. T. Hatch, of Suisun, and it works successfully. 



Mr. Sprague: What is the cost? 



Mr. Bead: $65. I will say that it will do the work at an average 

 cost of 40 cents per hundred pounds, and with a large variety like the 

 I X L, that can be evenly assorted, it will do much better. 



Mr. Sprague: What is the expense of doing that work by hand? 



Mr. Read: From 75 cents up. It is safe to say that any almonds 

 that can be hulled for 75 cents by hand, can be hulled for 40 cents by 

 this machine. 



A new fruit-carrier, containing six trays of twelve pieces each, sepa- 

 rately suspended, called the " Gilbert Improved Fruit-Carrier," was 

 exhibited and its merits discussed. 



A recess was then taken until 1:30 o'clock. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention met after recess, at 1:30 o'clock. Mr. R. D. Stephens 

 in the chair. 



PRUNING FRUIT TREES IN THE VISALIA DISTRICT. 



Essay by Major C. J. . Berry, of Visalia. 



I was requested to prepare a paper on pruning — this old, hackneyed 

 subject, one which every self-claimed horticulturist in our State can talk 

 about from now until Christmas, and about which no two of them will 

 agree, or ever can be made to do so. I rather think the subject for me 

 to discuss is not "How to prune?" but "How not to prune?" If one 

 does right in the first proposition, he cannot do wrong in the second. 

 Observation has shown me — experience, too — that if there are only two 

 ways of doing a thing, invariably a man, or the man, will do it wrong on 

 his first effort. There must be some sort of a twist in human nature to 

 cause this. I have often wondered why it is that people who write 



