^T/ '^J^'JUO'<J. ^'J-^ 



BETTER FRUIT 



AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF MODERN, PROGRESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



Pruning Young Trees 



By Professor C. I. Lewis, Oregon .Agricultural College, Corvaliis, Oregon 



MANY orchardists growing young 

 trees have been disappointed 

 with tlie resulls tliey have oIj- 

 tained from pruning. While tliese dis- 

 appointments may Ite due, on ttie one 

 hand, to a hick of knowledge of some 

 of the fundamental principles underly- 

 ing pruning, on the other hand, we 

 believe that a very large percentage of 

 the dissatisfaction is due to the fact 

 that the grower has been expecting too 

 much from i)runing alone, and has 

 failed to realize the great importance of 

 other orchard practices, such as irriga- 

 tion, tillage and the maintenance of soil 

 fertility. 



No matter how skillfully we ])rune 

 for fruitfulness, iniless we have such 

 soil conditions as to furnish sullicient 

 food and moisture at the right time to 

 develop good, strong buds, we should 

 not expect to secure satisfactory re- 

 sults. Again, we must realize that soil, 

 elevation and climate are factors which 

 have a very close relation to pruning. 

 Likewise, the variety question is always 

 to be taken into consideration. For 

 example, the pruning of Jonathans in 

 Southern Idaho, at an altitude of 2,(1(1(1 

 feet, on a silt loam, is an entirely difTer- 

 ent problem from that of pruning Yel- 

 low Newt owns in ^Vester^ Oregon on 

 a heavy soil at an elevation of 100 feet. 

 While' the fundamental principles un- 

 derlying the pinming of these two trees 

 may be the same, the application of 

 these principles to the two may be 

 radically different. 



We need, first, to form a clear under- 

 standing of what these principles are, 

 and, second, to study more closely than 

 we ever have in the past the applica- 

 tion of these principles to our indi- 

 vidual orchards. 



The Three Types of Trees 



There are three types of trees grown 

 here in the Northwest, the so-called 

 open, globe or vase-shaped tree, the 

 center-leader type and the niodified- 

 leader type. 



In the vase or open tree three to five 

 branches are chosen to form the frame- 

 work of the tree; any tendency of a 

 branch to assume the lead is sup- 

 pressed; no leader being allowed to 

 grow, each of the three to five branches 

 is given equal i)rominence in the tree. 

 This tree was borrowed from the 

 French and has been modified in this 

 countrx to suit our S])ecial needs; for 

 example, in parts of the Middle West 

 and in California the tree is allowed to 

 carry a large number of laterals, sum- 

 mer pruning or shearing being em- 

 ployed to force out 'more laterals so as 

 to shade the branches from sun scald. 



A dense, compact tree is the result. 

 Here in the Pacitic Northwest we sel- 

 dom use the term "globe" or "vase," 

 hut almost always call it the ojjcn tree. 

 Instead of shearing to produce shade, 

 our growers prune out and keep the 

 tree open to admit more light. The 

 general framework, however, of the 

 California and Oregon types is the 

 same. Our orchardists claim that the 

 advantage of the open tree is that it 

 allows more light to enter the tree, thus 

 causing a better coloring of the fruit; 

 and, second, it produces a tree that is 

 broad and spreading and easy to keep 

 low-headed. The objections to this tree 

 are, first, that it is generalh struc- 

 turally weak, the scafl'old branches 

 issuing at one point, thus making weak 

 crotches, and if one branch breaks out 

 the tree may be ruined; second, this 

 type of tree is used too generally, as it 

 is not adapted to all varieties uniler all 

 conditions that are found here in the 

 Pacific Northwest. 



The so-called leader tree has been 

 used largeb in the Fast on the Atlantic 

 Seaboard, and is used somewhat on the 

 Pacific Coast, especially in British 

 Columbia. There are a few orchards 

 here in the Pacific Northwest where 

 the growers believe the leader to be the 



best type. With the leader tree, the 

 center branch is always allowed to 

 have the ascendency, and the tree 

 grows more or less to the true pyramid. 

 The growers obtain very large trees. It 

 is very dillicult, however, to keep them 

 low-headed and to keep them open, but 

 they are jjrohably stronger trees, there 

 being less breakage from this type of 

 tree than from the so-called open tree. 



The third type of tree is the modified 

 leader. In this type we start the trees 

 exactly as though we were going to 

 grow the center leader, but, beginning 

 from the second to the fifth year, the 

 leader is suppressed. The advantages 

 of this tyi)e of tree are that it allows us 

 to space the branches well, to build 

 strong crotches and main scaffold 

 limbs, and at the same time allows us 

 to keep the tree relatively close to the 

 ground. This type of tree is growing 

 in favor where it has been tried 

 thrcuiihout the Northwest. 



We would caution the growers, how- 

 ever, that with any of these types of 

 trees, weak trees or strong trees can be 

 built, and also that very bushy or open 

 trees may be attained witli any one of 

 the three systems. 



The type of growth of trees in your 

 localitv niav determine to a certain 



'mK-tn -jfcftTgs ujcf^-z.'^ 





I'u.rHi J I > "iiri;; Yellow Newt 5wn apple trep before and after sun 

 pruning. Photograph taken in August, 1912. 



