EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



387 



Second Year — During the second growing season, several lateral branches 

 will probably develop from each of the main branches. The following winter, 

 two or three well spaced laterals, extending outward from each main branch, 

 should be selected and all the other growth removed, except a few small 

 twigs in the center of the tree, which may be headed back for early fruit pro- 

 duction. These laterals should be headed back, but usually not so severely 

 as the year previous. Since the idea is to obtain a low, spreading tree, this 

 second year's growth should be left from 18 to 30 inches long, depending on 

 the amount of growth produced and its direction. 



To produce a well-shaped open-center tree, one should leave approximately 

 the same amount of wood on each of the main branches, so that the top of the 

 tree is almost level after pruning; or, in other words, the ends of the top 



Figure 30. Tree shown in Figure 29 after pruning. Note relative amounts of thinning 



out and cutting back. 



branches should all be about the same distance from the ground. Of course 

 the weaker growing scaffolds should be given some advantage by leaving them 

 slightly longer. 



A stronger framework will be formed if one branch of each scaffold is rec- 

 ognized as a leader and left a few inches longer than the others. In fact, the 

 scaffold leader should be much more in evidence in the peach than for other 

 fruits. Thus if three branches of the second season's growth are selected, 

 usually the middle one should be left a few inches longer than the other two. 



Third Year — During the winter following the third year's growth, two or 

 three outward growing laterals should be selected from each branch headed 

 back the year previous. These branches, selected to continue the framework 

 of the tree, should be headed back, removing perhaps a third to a half of their 



