62 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



uot always be the same that he adopts for its neighbor. They are never 

 exactly alike. You must plan your tree somewhat in reference to the 

 local conditions, the prevailing winds, and a number of such things, 

 which must be studied for years. Each year following, I out back 

 from one half to two thirds, and thin out the excessive thickening. In 

 cutting off a strong limb, I usually select an outer bud or shoot, off of 

 the main one, and cut to that, so that it will be the strong limb. Then 

 it will take a strong growth in the direction you wish, without too much 

 thickening. I have abandoned the practice of a leader in the center 

 of the tree. I started with that, and if 1 were in a southern climate 

 I would still do so, but I discovered that on the north side of the 

 tree I did not get the perfect coloring I wanted, not as good as on the 

 south side, so I cut out all those leaders I had saved, and have had 

 liner fruit since. This cutting out, as I do it, leaves trees looking as 

 though there wasn't much of them until the growth starts, but they soon 

 fill up and make the rankest, finest trees in the world. 



Mr. Dunwell : What is the expense of pruning an orchard four years 

 old, by 3'our system, heading back? A. That depends on how much 

 growth you have on it. I think it costs me $1.50 to 11.75 per acre; but, 

 as the age increases, the labor increases, infinitely. Last year, my 

 eight-year-old trees took nine to nine and one half days to the acre. 

 My foreman gave me the figures this winter of the time he spent with the 

 men there, and I think it was nine or nine and one half dajs to the 

 acre, with the shears. We work with the hand pruning-shear, on a 

 ladder. It may be slower and more tedious, but we know it is all right. 

 Taking it by the acre, the whole lot, different sizes and varieties, it 

 would be about nine and one half days per acre, on the eight-year-old 

 trees. 



Mr. Rice: In cutting back the leading shoots of a four or five year-old 

 tree, would you clip your extreme outside shoots in proportion, in 

 symmetrical form, or would you leave them to continue their growth? 

 A. I trim the middle shoots a little the hardest, because they are a little 

 the strongest. I mean just the strong ones. The short shoots are really 

 the fruiting limbs of a tree, but I thin those out. 



Mr. Wright: If in cutting back your leading shoots you bring them 

 down on a proportionate level with your outside shoots, could your out- 

 side shoots then form a symmetrical tree, or would you leave the outside 

 shoots to continue? A. You have seen pictures of the old-fashion bee 

 hives. I make my trees conform as nearly to that as they will permit, 

 and that often leaves the outer shoots longer and shortens the upper 

 shoots harshly. I thin so that when the pruning is done, and it should 

 be done before the foliage is out, it looks very thin, and, except you look 

 up a row, you will hardly catch any form of it; but after the leaves are 

 out, you see the form. 



Judge Russell: You say it should be completed before the foliage is 

 out? 



Mr. Morrill: Yes; if the foliage is started, it checks the growth mate- 

 rially. 



Q. How soon do you begin? 



