ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFORNIA. 



69 



turnips — any of the leguminous crops- 

 may be grown without detriment to the 

 trees. But I would advise the planting of 

 not more than two rows in the space be- 

 tween rows of trees. These crops should 

 not come nearer than six or eight feet 

 from the trees. 



Nursery stock and small fruits may be 

 planted in the orchard if the same rule of 

 not overcrowding is observed. 



Crops not Advisable.— All grain crops 

 — any crops, in fact, that preclude cultiva- 

 tion — should be avoided as they involve 

 great injury or total destruction of the 

 trees. Watermelons and pumpkins are 

 undesirable since they coyer much of the 

 ground to the exclusion of the cultivator, 

 and their roots ramify to great distances, 

 frequently drawing moisture directly 

 from the roots of the trees. 



Citrus and Deciduous Trees.— Some 

 people adopt the plan of planting decidu- 

 ous trees of early bearing habits — like the 

 peach— in alternate rows between their 

 orange trees. To this end the orchard is 

 often planted close together with the in- 

 tention of ultimately cutting away the 

 deciduous trees when the oranges come 

 into bearing. My experience with this 



method has not led me to favor it. In the 

 first place consulting appearances, I do 

 not like the intermixture of the two kinds 

 of trees— citrus and deciduous. Secondly, 

 trees of dififerent habits need to be treated 

 diflferently in irrigation, and it is generally 

 an awkward matter to irrigate part of the 

 trees in an orchard without watering all. 

 Thirdly, peach and some other deciduous 

 trees come into bearing before the or- 

 anges, it is true, but the fact also remains 

 that they are still vigorous trees when the 

 oranges begin to produce. In Southern 

 California the peach tree has been known 

 to live fifty years. The oranges will need 

 all of the space in the orchard when the 

 deciduous trees are still in their very 

 prime. It is hard for one to sacrifice the 

 result of years of toil, and hence too often 

 the deciduous trees are left and the or- 

 anges suffer — all of the trees suffer from 

 crowding. 



An Orange Grove Pure and Simple. 

 — If the orange grower is master of the 

 situation, so that he does not need to raise 

 anything in his orchard but the orange 

 trees themselves, and can keep the whole 

 surface well pulverized and free from ex- 

 traneous growth — that is, after all, the 

 best plan. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE ORANGE TREE IN BEARING. 



Extra Care. — The orange tree when it 

 begins to bear requires extra attention. 

 Not only should the cultivation be most 

 thorough, but, beginning with the time 

 when the fruit first forms, there must be 

 more irrigation than formerly, and every 

 means must be adopted to keep the tree 

 up to full vigor as it assumes its new pro- 

 ductive function. 



Tendency to Overbear. — The natural 

 tendency of the tree is to overbear; i, e., 

 to form more fruit than it can properly 

 mature, or at least so much that, if ma- 

 tured, its own vitality suffers thereby. 



Thinning the Fruit.— For this reason 

 it is imperative that the fruit first formed 

 be thinned out with no sparing hand. If 

 two-thirds or three-quarters of the sets 

 are pulled off when they are the size of a 

 hazelnut, it will be the better for the tree. 



How many oranges a tree should be al- 

 lowed to bear the first season it would be 

 impossible to say, as so much depends 

 upon the size and strength of the tree, but 

 I would place the safe limit somewhere 

 between three and twenty. Aim to keep 

 within rather than to pass the limit by a 

 single orange, and the future well-being 

 of the tree will reward you therefor. 

 When a tree overbears at first it is gener- 

 ally stunted, and in such case the original 

 yield may be its best for a number of 

 years. In some instances the tree never 

 produces so good fruit afterwards. The 

 second season more liberty may be al- 

 lowed in the matter of production, but 

 both tree and owner must still practice 

 self denial to a degree. 



After Production.— The second year 

 of bearing a budded tree may be allowed 



