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as the tree will support. In this case judgment must be used as to what 

 the tree will support; the soil may be wet or dry, rich or poor; the grower 

 must be the judge. 



To grow small fruit prune lightly. To grow large fruit prune with 

 care and judgment. To get this required judgment you must have some 

 practical experience. The oldest and most practical grower of this State 

 might write page after page on the subject of pruning, and when the 

 new planter, who wishes to start an orchard from the proceeds of his 

 office (and we have many orchardists of this kind in California), will 

 tell his hired help to prune his trees as Smith or Jones, for that is the 

 rule laid down in "California Fruits" (Wickson). These planters or 

 growers will in a few years want to sell their orchards, for, as I said in 

 the beginning, we have too much theoretical pruning, which causes more 

 expense, and generally brings the grower more in debt from year to year. 



When pruning is properly done it will assist in a great measure the 

 work of thinning the fruit. As an example of this work I would refer 

 to the orchards of Vacaville. There the pruning is done with the object 

 of producing large fruit, and also keeping in view the object of not over- 

 loading the tree with a lot of worthless small fruit. 



Some writers claim the object of pruning is to thin out the tops of the 

 trees to let the sun shine on the fruit, but this I think is of little 

 importance. 



Pruning that I might recommend might not do for the coast counties, 

 hence the grower must be his own judge as to how he wants to prune. 



You will find articles on the subject of pruning in the reports of 1887, 

 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1893, also in Wickson's "California Fruits." All 

 these are good articles. The time for pruning is when the trees are 

 in their dormant state; beginning about January 1st is usually a good 

 time. 



When I can have my choice in pruning all varieties of deciduous trees, 

 I prefer doing the work when the sap begins moving, in the spring of the 

 year. Pruning at this time, all cuts of the wood heal over better and 

 the primer can see how the buds are setting and then use his best judg- 

 ment as to how much wood he wants to cut out. 



Pruning is of great importance, and as growers we ought to meet with 

 each other in our orchards, compare methods, and examine results; by 

 this means we can get some of the practical ideas wanted. There is 

 much room for improvement in our methods of pruning, so let us com- 

 pare ideas and try to excel in pruning as we have in other lines of fruit 

 culture. 



DISCUSSION ON PRUNING. 



Mr. Sprague: I would like to inquire in regard to the experience of 

 the most experienced growers regarding pruning with reference to 

 balancing the tree up against the wind and keeping it as nearly straight 

 as possible. It has been suggested by certain growers of experience that 

 the alternate cutting of the branches of the apricot, for instance, has 

 secured a more steady production from year to year than the general 

 custom of making just about the same cut all around. For instance, 

 one main branch has half a dozen spurs on it, divided into subdivisions. 

 The suggestion has been made that by cutting one branch ten inches, and' 



