88 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS 1 CONVENTION. 



Now, the way I prune a tree is this: After the first year's planting I cut 

 it down to within 10 or 12 inches, and that is all the pruning I do to 

 that tree. 1 don't call it pruning taking out a limb here and there, in 

 order to let the other large limbs have a chance. I prune my trees while 

 the fruit is on them. A neighbor of mine, following out the old idea in 

 the second year of his prune orchard of 100 acres, was induced to try the 

 plan adopted in Santa Clara County. I told him then not to make a 

 mistake, and the result was he had no fruit whatever in the third year, 

 and mine averaged 144 pounds. This year I dried his fruit for him, and 

 his trees were planted the same time as mine. He got $3 83 a hundred, 

 and we got $4 25. 



Mr. Righter: Major Berry says that he pruned the trees while the 

 fruit was on them. I thought I was very smart at one time, and I 

 pruned that way and got the worst of it. I concluded then that it was 

 not the wisest way to do. One other thing: I'd like to know what these 

 people are thinking of in cutting away the lungs of a plant? 



Mr. Sprague: I am very glad that point has been brought up. Is it 

 not true that, at the time when the tree is almost dormant in the winter 

 time, if you cut it then the injury to the organism as a whole will be less 

 than when you cut it in full activity? It seems to me, reasoning from 

 general principles, that this is a very bad policy, and that we should be 

 mighty careful of this thing of summer pruning. 



Mr. Thompson, of Pasadena: It seems to me that because they do not 

 make a sufficient amount of wood, it requires a rigid summer pruning. 

 I'd like to know about Mr. Berry's trees in the first four or five years. 



Major Berry: After the first year's growth, there is a change on all 

 fruit trees. Every time you cut a limb off you check the growth. 



Question: How old is the oldest orchard you have? 



Major Berry: Five years old this coming spring. 



Mr. Adams: My recollection is that the place next to his has a good 

 deal of alkali in it. There is a good deal of difference between his and 

 the others. 



Major Berry: That is not all alkali. 



Mr. Adams: Well, I wanted to know something about it. 



Major Berry: Well, the facts are these: When you have a warm sun 

 and good weather in your favor, it will work miracles. At the same 

 time, we do pretty well, and you can make up your minds that the fruit 

 grows faster than at any place that I have seen in my life. 



Question, Should the renting of orchards to Chinese be encouraged? 



Cries of " No, no," were heard from all parts of the hall. 



A Member: I am one of those who said "No." I won't sell to a 

 Chinaman. When you sell to a Chinaman, the man that dries his own 

 fruit has got to take the price of Chinese dried fruit in the East. They 

 call it Chinese dried fruit. Now, the Chinamen come into our country 

 and buy orchards. This year they have found us in the hole. Next 

 year they will buy more orchards than they can afford to, although they 

 figure on a profit. The fruit in our country to-day, as a general thing, 

 is very poor, and some of them, I admit, make very good fruit, but where 

 one makes good fruit, others make fruit that is not fit to put on the 

 market. When they are going to sell it they will pour water on it, five 

 or more buckets, and then stand it out until it swells into large propor- 

 tions. There is always some sucker to buy it for about 2 cents a pound 



