IQIS 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 9 



soil they arc on, the climate and the 

 variety should all be taken into con- 

 sideration. As shown in the chapter 

 on "The Study of Fruit-Buds." theie is 

 a great diirerence in the bearing hal)its 

 of trees. The amount of pruning 

 which regular bearers like Jonathan, 

 Wagener, Winesap, (Irimes, etc., will 

 stand will vary considerably as com- 

 pared to the pruning that Yellow New- 

 town, Northern Spy, Baldwin, Tomjj- 

 kins King or varieties which have their 

 habit of growth will stand. As a gen- 

 eral rule, the growers of Yellow New- 

 town on the heavier soils of the state 

 are making a mistake with their young 

 trees. In almost all cases they are 

 over-pruning, and are cutting their 

 trees so hard tiiat whatever tendency 

 the trees miglit naturally have to bear 

 are directed into other channels. 



The directions given so far have iieen 

 written chiefly from the point of view 

 of apple pruning. Nevertheless the 

 recommendations apjjly ec|ually well to 

 all of our deciduous fruits and nuts, 

 such as prunes, pears, cherries and 

 walnuts. There are a few soecial rec- 

 ommendations, however, that we wish 

 to give for fruits other than apples. 



Special Recommendations for Pears 



We never reconuiiend pruning the 

 pear to the leader type. Growers gen- 

 erally feel that it is harder to fight the 

 blight with the leader than with llie 

 open type of tree, so we generally rec- 

 ommend tliat either the open type or 

 the modifled leader be chosen. ^Ve 

 would caution growers, however, that 

 many of the open trees are very easily 



damaged from blight and are often 

 ruined because the crotches are poorly 

 formed. An etTort should be made to 

 have the branches spaced as far aiKUi 

 as possible, so that if a branch is lost 

 from blight the remainder of the tree 

 can easily be saved. It should always 

 be borne in mind that hre blight works 

 in succulent growth, and that in han- 

 dling pear trees one should avoid ex- 

 cessive wood gi-owth. Pears begin their 

 growth earlier in the spring and cease 

 it earlier in the summei- than is the 

 case with apples. This should be spe- 

 cially borne in mind with young trees 

 if summer pruning is to be practiced. 

 Some varieties of pears, especially the 

 Bartlett, have a tendency to form fruit 

 buds and to bear fruit on the ends of 

 the terminals. They will do this (juite 

 often while the trees are still very 

 ' oung, and they should be discoura.ged 

 from bearing in this way. The tend- 

 ency to bear on such terminals should 

 be overcome by summer pruning. The 

 crooked growth of the Winter Nelis 

 and Hose is very troublesome to the 

 beginner in pear growing. Our advice 

 would be not to worry too nnich about 

 the crooked growth, for as the trees 

 become older they will take care of 

 themselves very largely, and this 

 crooked growth will cease to be 

 troublesome. Prune the trees in prac- 

 tically the same way as those that 

 grow straight. 



leais can carry more lateral wood 

 Mian apples. They relatively spread 

 farther when they produce a heavy 

 crop, so that one should avoid thin- 

 ning the young trees excessively. Keep 



I'n.LHi-. :!.') — Al Ufl: l'ivc-yi;n-i)iil liailUll |)car tree l)efoi-e pruning. At 

 right: Same tree after pruning. Tliis is a splendid type of niodiHcd leader. 



riGlHi: .ill — Typical cherry tree iif extremely 

 poor type, all of the main hranches issuing at 

 one pciint. Note how leggy the tree is, due to 

 the fact that there was insuiricient heading-in 

 the first two years. Heading this tree back 

 twice a year might have been helpful. 



all spurs or fruits from the main trunks 

 and low down on the scaffold branches, 

 as these are a source of infection from 

 the blight. It is also wise in pruning 

 in any district where fire blight is 

 troublesome to see that the pruning 

 tools are carefully sterilized before the 

 cuts are made. 



Special Recommendations for Cherries 

 Formerly the cherry was headed 

 about 3.5 inches. There arc luany grow- 

 ers in the state now that practice head- 

 ing from 20 to 25 inches, who are 

 building very nice trees. There seems 

 to be a i)rejudice against pruning a 

 cherry tree. Our advice would be to 

 prune it the first six years just about 

 the same as has been directed for 

 ai)i)les. We would urge, however, the 

 summer pruning, as we have felt that 

 splendid results could be obtained with 

 cherries by summer i)runing. The 

 cherry has a tendency lo shoo! u]) in 

 the air very rapidly, making an enor- 

 mous growth the first two years. The 

 resull is that the average grower has 

 not the nerve in the winter to cut this 

 back severely, and he leaves his trees 

 too leggy. One way to overcome this 

 legg\, high type of growth is to cut 

 back the terminals in the summer. A 

 very .good type of tree to get would be 

 the Mazzard body, making the trunk 

 and main scall'old branches of the Maz- 

 zard, later budding these over. This 

 will give a stronger crotch and there 

 will be less gumming and loss from 

 trees of this type. Should your cherry 

 trees need heavy cutting, do not hesi- 



