THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



21 



ting the maximum production of walnuts from the tree, and increasing- 

 its length of life. An orchard may be made to pay a good income early 

 in its life by planting 50 feet apart in squares, with a tree in the center 

 of each square which can be taken out after twelve to fifteen years. In 

 this way the profit from the interset trees will often be enough to pay 

 for planting and land by the time they will have to be taken out. It is 

 necessary to have water for irrigation in most places, as the walnut tree 

 needs more water than it usually gets. Walnut trees do not require the 

 heavy pruning that is needed by most deciduous fruit trees. The lower 

 limbs should start four or five feet from the ground, and in such a way 

 as to have the heavy side of the tree to the southwest. A good rule for 

 the early pruning is to cut off only those branches in the way of the 

 team when cultivating, or that will draw the tree too much to the north- 

 east or away from the prevailing winds. When the trees are eight to 

 ten years old there will be small branches in the center that shut out the 

 sunshine, which should be taken out, together with all branches that are 

 crossed. There will be no walnuts in the center of the tree unless there 

 is some sunshine through the tree. A good deal of labor and time can 

 be saved if the trees are gone over in June and the long and useless 

 shoots taken off. It may also be necessary to go over them ;iu;iin in 

 July, but the work at that time will be light. The young trees should be 

 supported by stakes for the first two or three years. A convenient stake 

 is made by using redwood 2x2x9 feet long. This makes a stnla^ long 

 enough to use for support for branches that may be drooping, and 

 these branches may be trained in the proper direction by using short 

 lengths of light baling rope to give the branch the proper angle. 



A walnut orchard that has been well cared for will begin to bear 

 pajdng crops after the fifth year from planting and should increase in 

 production for many years. Walnut trees will live to a great age in suit- 

 able localities and with proper care. Trees in the south of France and 

 in Spain that are believed to be more than 300 years old bear regular 

 and heavy crops. 



A blight of both nuts and green twigs began to attract attention about 

 nine years ago ; the Department of Agriculture at once instituted inves- 

 tigations, which were supplemented and are now being carried on by 

 the University of California, but the idea of finding a remedy for the 

 blight has been to a great extent abandoned and attention turned toward 

 solving the problem by finding trees that are resistant to the blight to 

 such a degree that they Avill produce paying crops under the same condi- 

 tions which cause other trees adjoining them to lose the greater part of 

 their crop. A series of investigations have been made with a view of 

 getting a tree that will be resistant to a great degree, and at the same 

 time produce large crops of desirable walnuts, from which to propagate 

 by grafting or budding. The investigations give much hope, as several 

 such trees have been found, and wdth the added interest that is taken 

 some very excellent trees are likely to be found. 



Grafting old walnut trees in order to form a top of some more desir- 

 able variety than the original has long been practiced in a small way in 

 California, but has been confined mostly to black walnut stocks. Almost 

 every other variety of fruit tree has been top-grafted, some of them sev- 

 eral times on the same tree, but there has always been a hesitancy about 

 cutting off a walnut tree that was not paying, the common belief being 



