390 



STAlTE BOARD OF AGRICULTTJiRiE 



PRUNING THE PEAE 



The pear should generally be trained and pruned in a manner similar to 

 that recommended for the apple. Some growers prefer the open-center type 

 of training, maintaining that a lower tree will result, and that blight may be 

 more easily controlled. The pear, however, lends itself more readily to the 

 leader rather than open or vase-shaped system of training. There are ad- 

 vantages in both systems, but since the modified leader tree may be opened 

 up after suppressing the leader, it is usually given preference. 



Figure 31. A two-year-old Bartlett 

 pear. Photograph taken after prun- 

 ing which was almost entirely a thin- 

 ning-out. 



Figure 32. This two-year- 

 old Seckel pear has just received a 

 light thinning-out and very light 

 tipping-back. The tallest branch 

 should have been headed back to 

 the X to prevent it from assuming 

 the "lead" and thereby develop- 

 ing into an unsymmetrical tree. 



Since the pear has a strong tendency to assume an upright habit, the grower 

 should cut back to outside buds or to outside lateral branches. In case of 

 varieties having a decided upright tendency, it may be advisable to cut to a bud 

 just above an outside bud with the idea of cutting back into two-year-old 

 wood to the outside lateral the following year. The grower should be par- 

 ticularly careful to destroy balance in individual limbs, but not in the tree as 

 a whole, by cutting back branches, because of the upright habit of growth 

 and tendency to form weak sharp-angled crotches. It is a good practice to 

 remove spurs which may develop from time to time on the trunk or on the 



