THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 5 



of fruiting wood, practically all of the thinning can be done with the 

 pruning shears. It may not be desirable to cut this close when doing 

 the general pruning, but after the fruit is set and danger of frost is 

 past, the fruiting-wood may be shortened-in to remove the oversupply 

 of fruit. Thinning is a small task as compared with that on a tree 

 bearing single fruit-buds. 



Such a type of fruiting-wood can only be developed by severe prun- 

 ing. As in the cherry, some of these strong twigs will grow in the tops 

 of the poorly pruned trees, but to grow them in the center of the tree 

 the top must be pruned back severely. Remember that it is almost 

 impossible to maintain a fruiting area over seven or eight feet in depth. 

 Little is gained by growing a peach tree fifteen feet in height when the 

 bottom seven feet is barren. It is better to keep the trees down to a 

 height of ten feet with fruiting-wood within three feet of the ground. 

 A well pruned tree will grow three feet of new top each year ; but, if 

 the tree is to continue productive, practically all of this must be re- 

 moved each year. Prune according to the wood growth you get, and 

 set the standard of twig growth to be desired at from fourteen to 

 twenty inches. It is safe to say that in a well pruned peach tree, four 

 fifths of the one-year-old growth is removed at each pruning season. 

 Pruning that is too severe will produce strong twigs with the first fruit- 

 buds, near the middle or farther out on the year's growth. Such 

 pruning not only causes the tree to expend energy in the production of 

 needless wood, but necessitates the leaving of fruit-spurs long. This 

 makes the tree bushy and hard to work in, and develops a type of 

 fruiting-wood that must be early replaced by newer arms forced from 

 the main limbs. Wood with the triple buds near the base may be 

 spurred back close each year and may be maintained several years 

 before they are long enough to become undesirable. 



THE NECTARINE. 



This fruit is really a peach and the tree so much like a peach tree 

 that it is unnecessary to outline a special system of pruning. Prune the 

 tree as you would prune a peach tree. 



THE APRICOT. 



The fruiting habit of the apricot is much like that of the peach, or at 

 least a system of pruning adapted to the peach would do very well for 

 the apricot. The tree is inclined to bear more of its fruit upon short 

 spurs but it also bears abundantly on longer new growths. On the 

 weaker spurs especially, the fruit-buds are often borne singly in the 

 axils of single leaves. On the longer twigs they are found in groups 

 of two, three or four, and on these stronger growths, branch-buds are 

 more often found in the clusters with the fruit-buds. Unlike the peach, 

 the apricot twig bears no true terminal buds. All the buds are axillary 

 and those at the tips of branches may be either fruit-buds or branch- 

 buds. The fruit-buds normally bear a single flower and no leaves. As 

 in the case of the peach, fruiting-wood bearing its fruit-buds single, 

 can not be headed-in as a means of thinning the fruit. 



The most desirable type of fruiting-wood is the longer growth bear- 

 ing fruit-buds in groups. In these groups there is nearly always a 

 branch-bud and the twig may be headed-in to any point without destroy- 



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