then on the other side balancing the branch by cutting it six inches, and 

 reversing that from year to year. 



Mr. Frank A. Kimball: We have continuous winds in San Diego 

 from the northwest, and all our trees incline in the opposite direction. 

 The only way we have been able to balance is by cutting from the leeward 

 side quite severely, which tends to drive the sap to the other side and to 

 increase the size of the branches. And now with our experience we are 

 able to balance our new orchards almost as well as though they were in 

 a quiet atmosphere where there were no strong winds. But prior to this 

 time our old orchards, nearly all of them, inclined not less than 3° per- 

 pendicularly. We are able now to cure that almost entirely by pruning 

 from the leeward side, cutting the leaders well in. 



Mr. Butler: There is another method that has been practiced to some 

 extent. I have visited many orchards in different parts of the State 

 where there have been continuous winds. And while the method that 

 is spoken of by Mr. Kimball is practicable, there is another method that 

 is preferred by other people. When a tree is planted incline it toward 

 the wind and keep it in that position, and by the time it becomes full 

 grown it will be straight. In regard to the question of cutting every 

 other branch of the apricot, that practice is followed by many fruit 

 growers, and advocated by them, and I think it is worthy of considera- 

 tion. You get a more continuous crop, and you can keep your tree 

 better balanced without losing your crop. 



Mr. Kimball: We have tried the plan of planting the trees so that 

 they lean toward the wind, as advocated by Mr. Butler, but it has not 

 succeeded. The pressure of the wind is not so much against the trunk 

 of the tree as it is against the growing branches. Constant pressure 

 against the growing branches of the tree tends to incline it in the oppo- 

 site direction, but it has no influence over the trunk. 



Mr. Sprague: There is another difficulty in connection with that 

 plan, and that is that your trees will not stand regularly. Some of 

 them will lean one way and some another. 



Gen. Chipman: I would like to have some information. In my 

 orchard I have twenty or thirty acres of apricots. We do not get a 

 crop on an average oftener than once in three years. I see somewhere 

 a suggestion — I think from some grower in either Los Angeles or San 

 Bernardino — that if the apricots were pruned shortly after the crop 

 was removed, and then irrigated, that we would have a succession of 

 crops; that by pruning and irrigating immediately after the crop is 

 taken from the tree we would have assurance of a crop the next suc- 

 ceeding year. Now, if any one has had experience in that direction, I 

 would be very much obliged to him for the result of it, because I can 

 easily prepare myself to do both those things. 



Mr. Sprague: I think this argument is confined mainly to the south- 

 ern part of the State, where they of necessity irrigate regularly their 

 apricots and other deciduous trees. I know it is quite a uniform practice 

 there to treat the apricot trees in that way, and there is no great com- 

 plaint of the irregular bearing of the trees. In fact, the orchards, so far 

 as my observation extends, bear with very considerable regularity; and 

 that is the treatment which prevails in that portion of the country. 



Mr. Righter: Down about San Jose they don't want to irrigate 

 unless they have to. But there are some men there who are well fitted 

 for irrigation; and after they have taken the crop off, some of these men 



