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stajT'E board of agriculture 



ment of a fruiting system, and is practiced to a greater extent with young 

 trees than with those in bearing. Heavily headed back young trees should 

 not be expected to attain greater size than those headed lightly or not at all — 

 in fact, if continued for several years, the gross effect is an undersized tree, 

 as well as one late in coming into fruit production. 



This division between thinning and heading is somewhat artificial. In 

 other words, a single pruning cut may result in a thinning out as well as a 

 cutting back. This is frequently the case when three- or four-year-old wood 

 is being removed from peach trees and the cuts are made close to a lateral of 

 the former parent branch. 



FigurkI . Equal heading back of 

 all branches results in Y-shaped 

 crotches such as are shown at X and 

 throughout this apple tree. A tree 

 pruned like this develops a number 

 of growths from buds near the ends 

 of the remaining branches and heavy 

 thinning must follow the next year. 

 Neither a strong tree nor early bear- 

 ing result. 



Figure 2. A four-year-old plum tree of 

 the European group which has been headed 

 back entirely too much and in which weak 

 crotches are encouraged to form by equal 

 cutting back of branches arising from a com- 

 mon point. This tree is a very good illustra- 

 tion of the open-center type of training. 



Heading Back May Maintain or Destroy Balance Between Branches— 

 Two branches that have made practically the same amount of growth are 

 often found growing from a common point. If left unpruned or if headed 

 back to the same length, the amount of growth from each the following year 

 will be approximately equal. If one branch is cut several inches shorter 

 than the other, the longer one will give rise to more growth the following 

 years, and eventually the shorter one will become a side branch of the longer, 

 as naturally occurs if one branch is longer than the other and no pruning takes 

 place. Thus, equal cutting back of branches arising from a common point 

 results in equal growth, and unequal cutting back results in unequal growth. 

 Furthermore, when two branches of equal size emerge from a common place 

 in such a way as to form a sharp "Y," a weak crotch results unless steps are 

 taken to strengthen it. Equal cutting back of these two branches will not 

 better the condition, but unequal cutting back, leaving one considerably 



