PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 311 



woolly peaches, devoid of Ha\'or or color, which sell slowly at cheap 

 prices, and this same routine is followed year after year until the grower 

 finds that when he should have an orchard just in its prime he has instead 

 a prematurely aged, broken, and dilapidated one. 



All this might be changed for the better, and at nominal expense, if 

 we begin with the setting of the tree to follow well-defined plans laid on 

 proper lines, and follow them thoroughly and on time, year after year, 

 with or without a crop. 



In hope of explaining more clearly what' I consider proper methods 

 of })runing, I will now show photographs taken in my own orchards, and 

 invite your criticism as we take up each picture; and as Mr. Hale, " the 

 peach king," is with us, I especially invite his comments. 



You will notice, as each picture is thrown upon the screen, that some- 

 where on it is a figure showing the year in which each tree was set, and 

 all the photographs being taken in October, 1890, you can readily figure 

 the age of the tree. Also, in each })icture, you will find a man six feet 

 tall, and the step-ladder in use is a six-foot one. From these you can 

 judge the dimensions of trees if I fail to give the same. 



Bearing this in mind, permit me to explain photograph Xo. 1. This 

 tree is one in a block of 5,000 set in the spring of 181)6, all third-grade 

 trees, eighteen inches to two feet high, but carefully handled and vitality 

 kept uninjured. . You will see that the limbs start about knee-high to a 

 man, and on October 1 the top is as high as his head. You will notice 

 also that the tree as trimmed is only waist-high, with five main limbs 

 saved, which I think is really one too many for ideal shape; but, of course, 

 you all know that it is impossible to make hard and fast rules for work of 

 this character. 



We will now move on to photograph No. 2, taken from a one-3'ear tree 

 but bearing its second year's wood. Unfortunately all these trees were 

 trimmed before we got around to take the photographs, so I can only 

 shoAv 3'ou the tree after pruning. This tree, you will notice, was started 

 with crotch about eighteen inches high, trimmed and cut back at one 

 year, leaving only three branches, they in turn producing three to four 

 strong limbs, which you see cut back, not quite so harshly as I would 

 have done it myself, but done by my foreman, but on the whole quite a 

 s,ymmetrical tree for a two-year-old. Yon will observe that it is, after 

 pruning, about nine feet high, and spreads eleven feet. The companion 

 tree in this picture is a four-year Lombard plum which has been treated 

 just the same as the peach. You can see just where it has been cut back 

 each year, and as it stands, is trimmed ready for next ci'op. This tree, as 

 you can see, is thirteen feet high and spreads fourteen feet. We find 

 that, even under this system of pruning, the ])lum, except in the case of 

 Burbank, maintains its u])riglit habit; while I think the peach, under 

 this treatment, shows a decided tendency to spread its branches out of 

 proportion to its height. 



The third photograph shows a tree of»L(nvis peach before and after 

 pruning. You will see that before pruning it stood some fourteen feet 

 liigh, with the current season's growth measuring as much as six feet, 

 and. being a young, vigorous tree, it has uuniy small side-branches. Now, 

 imagine the results of allowing all these small branch(»s to remain, loaded 

 as they are with fruit buds. It would mean that, if the winter is favor- 



