S?6 ANNtJAT. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



I iiuisl say that liotter results can l»e obtained from the latter. 

 Many orcliardists have tlie idea that after a biiiuli of luen have 

 been started to i)runiiig that all is well, and they will do the work 

 properly. 



Well let me tell yon that this is taking a long chance, for we 

 have a high class of laboring men working for us, as well as re- 

 sponsible foremen, but nevertheless the field manager is on the job. 

 We do our pruning during January, February and March, keeping 

 a force out when weather conditions will permit, usually about half 

 time is made. 



These three months are usually severe but we find some very 

 favorable weather, and Avith j)lenty of men, have time to treat each 

 tree individually or in other words, treat each tree" as though it 

 were the only one we had. We had our inexperienced man with 

 one of a year or more experience, making two men to each row. 

 until the inexperienced men have been taught, then each man there- 

 after takes a row and is responsible for it. 



Each man is equipped with a saw, large pruning shears and small 

 hand pruners. Following behind the pruners is a boy. to cover all 

 wounds over half inch across, with white lead and linseed oil paint 

 to prevent the exposed wood from drying out. We, also, use a 

 boy to gather up the cut limbs and put them into piles. We use 

 a team with light sled, with very broad, light bed, to carry the brush 

 oif to a vacant space to be burned. Be sure to haul this brush off 

 before growing season, because there is nothing which looks worse 

 than trash of this sort in an orchard, and it also prevents clean 

 cultivation. 



The old style of high-headed apple trees has gone out of favor 

 with the progressive fruit growers, and the common sense method 

 is taking its place. The low-headed trees have the advantage of 

 high-headed ones in being easier and cheaper to spray, prune and 

 gather fruit from, and less injury to dropped fruit, and less injury 

 by storm. 



The fruit will color and ripen as well. The disadvantages are 

 none, provided they are pruned properly. 



There is a great difference of pruning fruit trees, by growers, 

 college professors, and men with theories, and one point upon which 

 they differ mostly is the "straight leader" and the ''open head." 



We have experimented with the "straight leader" and the "open 

 head" methods of pruning an apple tree, with the result of adopting 

 the straight leader as the best. 



FIRST YEAR 



The first year consists of pruning done when the trees are planted 

 but if any new shoots tend to make the tree unsymmetrical the tips 

 should be pinched otl: in the summer to check their growth. This 

 summer pinching of symmetrical shoots should be done whenever 

 necessary in the following years. 



SECOND TEAR 



Cut out all surplus branches and prune back the foundation 

 branches from one-third to one-half their growth, making the tree 



