1360 Department of AGRictrLTURE 



There should be as many " outside rows " as possible. That is, 

 the trees should be far enough apart for each to develop in full its 

 individuality, for every fniit grower knows that tlie trees on the 

 outside of his orchard produce the most fruit; the reason is that 

 they get more air, sunshine, wind, moisture and food. What bet- 

 ter argument for wide planting ? 



Pruning is almost prehistoric in origin and is popularly sup- 

 posed to be the kindergarten operation in fruit growing, yet as now 

 practised it is a hit-and-miss cutting, sawing, chopping and shear- 

 ing out of shoots, twigs, branches and limbs, designated hj such 

 expressive terms as " cutting-back," " heading in," " dehorning," 

 and '' thinning out the wood." There must always be a difference 

 in the details of pruning but there are a few general facts and 

 principles which every one who primes should have well by heart. 

 These, briefly stated, are as follows: (1) winter pruning increases 

 the vigor of the jDlant ; (2) summer pruning decreases the vigor of 

 the plant ; (3) prune weak-growing varieties heavily in the winter; 

 strong-growing sorts, lightly; (4) overpruning induces the growth 

 of suckei*s or watersprouts ; (§) heavy pruning young trees delays 

 fruiting; ((i) all pruning must take into account the habit of 

 growth of the tree; (7) some fruits bear on this year's wood, 

 others on that of last year, and still others on older growth ; prun- 

 ing must take the age of bearing wood into account. 



A man can care for his trees better if he makes a sharp dis- 

 tinction between pruning and training trees. The operations of 

 pruning, as given above, have to do with the modification of the 

 vigor and fniitfulness of the plants, but training, properly speak- 

 ing, aims to keep the trees in manageable shape. Training, then, 

 as to whether high-headed or low-headed, open-centered or close- 

 centered, one-storied or two-storied, depends largely upon the con- 

 veniences and the whims and prejudices of the grower. Tt is 

 probably more important that a definite ideal be chosen and ad- 

 hered to than that any particular choice be made. 



Cultivation is very generally practised with all fruits except- 

 ing the apple; some claim that this fruit in New York can be 

 grown better in sod, in which case the grass may be cut as a 

 mulch or it may be kept down by sheep, pigs or cattle. The 

 various modifications of the sod method of managing orchards 



