The Apple in Oregon : Part II. 139 



prune tree is cut back to a mere stub, leaving, ordinarily, a raw wound from 

 one-half to three-fourtlis of an inch in diameter exposed to the weather. The fall 

 or winter planting of prune trees malces it almost imperative that tlie cutting- 

 back to be done at tlie time, otherwise much damage may be done the planta- 

 tion by winter winds swaying the trees back and forth, for tlie prune "switch." 

 as commonly planted, exposes a consideralile length of stem, from six to eight 

 or more feet. If these wounds were painted at the time made with some 

 tenacious material like white lead, in which has been dissolved a little sul- 

 phate of copper, injury from exposure to the air would be prevented. These 

 observations apply almost equally well to the apple, though the young apple 

 tree, as a rule, is smaller and thus exposes less surface to the action of the wind. 



The common practice in the more liumid sections of the state is to head the 

 tree at three to four feet from the ground (See Fig. '22). while in the dryer 

 portions the trees are headed as low as one foot, and on an average not more 

 than two feet. This neecssitates training the lowe.^-it branches to a somewhat 

 erect position for at least two years, otherwise they will interfere with the 

 operations of tillage. See Figs. 23 and 24. In later years though these 

 branches, while laden with fruit may almost touch the ground, no serious dis- 

 advantage will be felt during tillage, and the position of the fruit will be a 

 decided gain in the work of spraying See Fig. 25. 



In fact all operations save tillage are benefited by the formation of low 

 heads. As the growers of Eastern Oregon remark : "\Ye like to work on the 

 ground floor, for it facilitates the work of picking and thinning ;" wliile in 

 sections wliere heavy winds prevail much less loss of fruit occurs in orchards 

 of low headed trees, and the trees themselves are of l)etter form, thus re- 

 quiring less attention and labor in pruning. (See Fig. 2(). ) It is true that 

 in parts of Western Oregon and along the coast the fruit on low headed trees 

 is often of indifferent color while that on trees of medium to high heads is of 

 fair to high color. This fact makes it desirable that trees of late fall and 

 winter varieties be headed or trained high in these sections while trees of sum- 

 mer and early fall varieties may be headed low if desired. 



As to the manner in which the head may be formed there are several im- 

 portant points to keep in view. And first, perhaps as to whether a central 

 leader shall be left, or all main branches trained to develop uniformly. The 

 latter has been tlie common practice in later years, but recently some of the 

 leading orcliardists have been advocating a return to our earlier practices of 

 leaving a central leader. The contention is that many trees are lost as a result 

 of close or cramped forking at the origin of the head, while with a leader no such 

 loss occurs. With a central leader there are so many Inids that remain latent that 

 .space sufHcient for good branch unions is always present, whereas, the forced 

 development of all buds at the top in the case of the young tree cut back, and 

 the lack of ample forethought in the removal of the excess of branches, which, 

 when young are not clearly evident as such, allows opportunity for too many 

 faulty heads. As yet there are no well defined examples of superior young 

 orchards grown with central leaders, but a comparison of our younger orchards 

 with those planted years ago would seem to give considerable weight to the 

 view that leaders ought to be retained in general planting, thougli the specialist 

 may adopt such style of head formation as he deems best suited to his taste, 

 for in such cases ample attention will be given to the numerous minor mat- 

 ters that pertain to efBcient pruning. (Compare Figs. 3 and 27.) 



'inen. after this question of form is settled there comes the question of 

 branches or laterals. Not more than four, and usually three are quite enough 

 for this purpose, especially if a central leader is left. Too many branches make 

 a bushy close top, while too few would leave a top too open or ill shapen. In 

 cases without a central leader the buds which are to form the chief branches 

 of the head should be left not closer than eight inches apart. Wlien the tree 

 has grown to full size there will then be no more open space between them than 

 is necessary to maintain a good strong union, a point that is too often over- 



