372 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



ably have produced several laterals. Two or three of these should be se- 

 lected and headed back, if necessary, sufficient to avoid "legginess." Care 

 should be taken, as previously described, 

 to prevent the formation of weak "Y" 

 shaped crotches. 



This system should be continued 

 throughout a third and possibly to the 

 fourth year, after which the leader should 

 be suppressed or discontinued. This sys- 

 tem [of training results in a tree with a 

 central axis or leader about five or six feet 

 in height, with from six to ten scaffold 

 branches extending outward and upward 

 in all directions and spaced along the 

 main axis for three to five feet. 



The pruner should develop the several 

 scaffold branches carefully. The heading 

 back should not only be done from the 

 standpoint of the tree as a whole, but 

 also with regard to the relation of the 

 main branches to each other. If certain 

 ones are outgrowing others, the stronger 

 should be headed back more than the 

 weaker ones. If the lower scaffold 

 branches are not developing sufficiently, 

 the upper ones must be cut back more 

 heavily, or the lower ones may be entirely Figure 13. a two-year-oid Lombard 



1 1 £f 1 1 ] iU J. plum showing good distribution of scaffold 



suppressed as real scaffolds and the tree branches on the lower portion of the tre«' 

 flptiinllv hppnmpc; iTio-h liporlpfl TViitj nil trunk below the point of heading, but pooi 



aciuaiiy oecomes nign neaaea. i nus an ^,^ ^^^ two-year-oui portion of the leade- 



mam branches of the tree must be prop- The two lowest branches are perhaps tr( 

 11-, close to the ground and should have been rt 



eriy dominant. moved one year ago. 



]*RTTNINf; THE YOUNG APPLE 



Height of Head — When the lower set of scaffold branches are within two 

 and one-half or three feet of the ground, the tree is said to be low-headed; 

 if they are as much as four feet from the ground, the tree is regarded as high- 

 headed. 



The question of height to head is largely a personal one. In general, low- 

 headed trees are more economically pruned, sprayed, thinned and harvested 

 and are less subject to sunscald, while high heading facilitates cultivation 

 underneath the branches. However, the general type and kind of pruning 

 practiced may cause the branches of a high-headed tree to be very low, or 

 may result in the branches of a low-headed tree being sufficiently high for 

 all practical purposes. Again, different varieties have different habits of 

 growth, and this should be borne in mind when determining the height to 

 head. For instance, a Mcintosh tree is wide-spreading and the branches 

 quite horizontal, while Duchess or Oldenburg and Yellow Transparent are 

 upright in habit. 



Type of Training — ^The modified leader type is the most favored system of 



