79 



Mesa Grande now, and neighbors are setting out trees, and more are con- 

 templating planting the coming season. I think the altitude cuts but little 

 figure in the production of the cherry; it depends more on the quality of 

 the soil and a sufficient annual rainfall, say an average of thirty inches per 

 year. Plant upon well drained hillsides, no matter how rocky, providing 

 it is not too rocky to cultivate. These rocks keep the soil loose, and the 

 heat they gather through the day is thrown off at night, keeping the soil 

 warm. 



Give the trees no irrigation; at least that is true in Southern California, 

 where the soils are too dry to produce without the application of water. 

 All who have tried have failed to produce cherries with irrigation. The 

 tree grows and flowers from three to five years, but never ripens fruit, and 

 usually dies at the end of five years, or before. 



DISCUSSION. 



Dr. Kimball, of Haywards: Pruning is as different as the individuals 

 and the knives and the shears; as the individual father trains a son or a 

 mother a daughter, just according to their ideas of development and gov- 

 ernment, just as diverse is the training of fruit trees. I have engaged in 

 the fruit business a great many years, and have trimmed a great many 

 trees, and had them trimmed under me, and I never have seen two trees 

 trimmed exactly alike. Notwithstanding this diversity there is generally 

 very good results, except in extreme cases of either too much cutting or too 

 little cutting. I think, though, in most cases with the young orchardist, 

 the greatest mistake is in trimming too little; it is like Solomon sparing 

 the rod and spoiling the child; if you spare the knife, if you are too merci- 

 ful, you spoil the future of your tree. For the first few years of the tree 

 the development should be in the line of training that tree in the best pos- 

 sible condition of growth to bear the greatest possible amount of good fruit. 

 To accomplish this the methods in use are as diversified as two charac- 

 ters; we never can make two blades of grass grow alike, never can make 

 two things of any kind grow exactly alike, so there can be laid down no 

 definite method. 



Mr. A. T. Hatch, of Suisun: I have seen Mr. W. W. Smith's trees, and 

 seen him prune them, and seen the results year after year; of course, no 

 two trees can be exactly alike, but a person traveling along the road by 

 his trees could readily imagine they had all been trained out of the same 

 mold, and not the same men did it, either; many men have done it at 

 different times; some have trained them one year, and maybe the next 

 year was different labor. There are many orchards in this State that are 

 pruned very regularly, and sometimes by the lowest grade of human 

 nature. I understood from some article about pruning that the cone or 

 pyramidal form was recommended. There has been adopted the pyramidal 

 form in California, but the largest part of the pyramid is up and tapers 

 down to a point at the butt of the tree, reaching about a foot from the 

 ground ; that is found by most people interested in fruit growing to be the 

 best plan. The young tree when planted cut to twelve, fourteen, or sixteen 

 inches, and that season let two or three or four branches grow — three is 

 the best; it don't matter how high they grow — the higher the better; cut 

 them down again at least two thirds of their growth on most of our trees, 

 such as peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries, and pears. The next year 

 allow two to grow on each of the three or four branches that are left; that 

 is, in pruning the next time, leave but two upon each one, and upon that 

 the same again, two more, leaving the tree in a measure open, or a hollow 



