86 PROCEEDINGS OP NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



some of them adjoined me in their orchards. From this description of 

 pruning and results, it will be seen that I am an advocate of summer 

 pruning only. It is but fair to state that in our section of the State 

 there occurs a dormant season in midsummer. There are two seasons 

 in the same year. Many of the short crops, like melons, potatoes, etc., 

 produce twice in our region. It is at that summer dormant season that 

 I do the pruning of peach trees. 



Prune and Plum Trees. — After the first cutting back of the first year's 

 growth in orchard form there is no more pruning done to these trees. 

 If some limbs begin to pinch at the crown, those are taken out entire 

 during the winter season. 



After our prune trees have made a certain growth in height, 15 or 16 

 feet, they then make a fruit-spur growth almost entirely. One block of 

 my prune trees, nearly 10 acres, four years old, averaged 400 pounds of 

 fruit to the tree, and three fourths of the fruit dried 40-50's. 



Pear Trees. — I keep the suckers down and the water sprouts out of 

 the middle of the tree, and produce larger, juicier, smoother, richer 

 Bartlett pears than are grown in any part of California, and more to 

 the acre. 



Before closing this article, the question will suggest itself to the fruit- 

 grower's mind, while Major Berry's trees yielded such a heavy crop of 

 peaches under his system of pruning, what size was the fruit? In reply, 

 546 tons of those peaches were delivered to a cannery in San Francisco, 

 and the contract was for fruit 2-| inches in diameter and upwards. 

 Less than 10 per cent of the entire crop went under that size. 



It is a difficult matter to write down any method of pruning, and I 

 think it is an error on the part of our horticultural writers not to advise 

 that those who are making fruit-growing a profession ought to have 

 some practical lessons in this very important branch of our business. 



THE QUESTION-BOX. 



Question, How are young olive trees treated, one year old? 



Answered: The best way to treat olive trees is to let them alone. 

 Very little pruning should be done to the olive tree while it is young. 



Mr. Roeding: I am a grower of olives in Fresno County, having about 

 75 acres. I use extreme care in transplanting them. In shipping trees, 

 I always cut away enough so as to leave no foliage. A tree that stands 

 4 feet high, I cut down to 3 feet. If you set out the tree in January or 

 February, when it is dormant, it will remain that way during the entire 

 season; but if you plant it during the month of March or April, it will 

 continue growing without stopping, provided you give it proper care. 

 The first year we never touch — that is, prune — the olive tree. The fol- 

 lowing year prune off all the branches below 16 or 18 inches high. The 

 third year prune off about 8 inches; the following year about 18 inches, 

 and the next year about 36 inches. By pursuing this method you get 

 a very compact tree. If we allowed the tree to grow without pruning it 

 would overbear. I have found that where they do not prune, the trees grow 

 so tall that you cannot do anything with them. The olive tree does not 

 require as much pruning as the peach tree. If there is no pruning there 



