47S Report of the Department ok Horticulture of the 



rule. Peaches and some plums bear fruit on the wood of the past 

 season. The crop is borne progressively away from the trunk. 

 It is necessary to head-in these fruits to keep the bearing wood 

 near the trunk. Apples, pears, most plums, and cherries are borne 

 on spurs from wood two or more years old, and, therefore, with these 

 heading-in is not a regular practice. 



SUCKERS. 



When a tree is severely pruned a growth of long, vertical shoots 

 with few leaves often follows — suckers or water sprouts. Since the 

 sparseness of foliage prevents the shoots from elaborating food 

 they appropriate it from the parts upon which they grow. Suckers 

 are, therefore, robbers, true parasites, and should be removed when- 

 ever and wherever found. Occasionally they may be used in the 

 development of normal branches, though their value for this purpose 

 is small. 



MAKING THE CUT. 



The cut in pruning should always be made parallel with the trunk 

 and as close as possible. One of the most elementary rules of pruning 

 is that the cut should be made just beyond a healthy lateral branch. 

 The reason for so cutting is plain. The lateral branch is stimulated 

 to produce a great number of leaves which assimilate sap. This 

 elaborated food passes back through the inner bark near the newly 

 made cut and the wound quickly calluses and heals because it thus 

 has access to an abundant supply of food. 



The notion prevails that a wound of any size will heal, but the 

 majority of wounds over three inches in diameter do not heal. 

 Decay sets in, caused by wood-destroying fungi, and there soon 

 follow, with the action of the weather, rotten wood, a hollow branch 

 and a diseased tree. The life of a tree is endangered whenever 

 a large branch is removed, and such an amputation should be made 

 only under dire necessity. One of the secrets of the healing of 

 large wounds is to cut close to the trunk, and no matter how large 

 a wound may be it is better than leaving a projecting stub. The 

 chances for healing with a large wound are materially increased by 

 a coating of thick lead paint to protect the cut surface from evapo- 

 ration and moisture. It is a waste of time to paint wounds less 

 than two inches in diameter. 



time to prune. 



Pruning is often left to " time and chance " but there is a best 

 time, which is late winter before the sap flows. The objection to 

 early winter pruning is that there may be injury to the tissues near 

 the wound from cold or from checking. Late spring pruning results 

 in loss of sap and the fluids run down the bark and keep it wet and 



