452 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



the fruit-bearing be largely relegated, within a few years, to the outer and upper 

 parts of the tree. Many have taken this heavy cutting idea too seriously and cut 

 back the young trees so short as to dwarf the growth temporarily and postpone the 

 bearing a year or so. Trees cut too short run wildly to wood — lower growths which 

 otherwise would have been fruiting laterals become large "suckers." 



In direct contrast to this practice several growers have not topped their trees 

 except when they were planted. One of these orchards is over twenty years old, 

 and has been a very profitable orchard. The trees bear plenty of fruit in the lower 

 parts as well as the tops, but they are very high, so that picking is relatively 

 expensive. This same grower has 700 trees planted and topped in the spring of 1912. 

 These have not been topped since but thinned out to a few main branches. This 

 summer, during its fifth season's growth, it produced four 40-pound boxes of apricots 

 per tree. Thinning of fruit was necessary in the spring, and all forming fruits 

 knocked off the ends of the long unpruned branches to prevent breakage. The trunks 

 and main branches of these trees are very large in girth measure for trees of this age. 

 He does not summer prune. 



Another orchardist headed the trees low in the spring of 1911, and thereafter 

 thinned to a few main branches and merely removed the slender tops of these trees 

 each winter — possibly one-fifth or one-fourth of the previous summer's growth. No 

 summer "suckering" was practiced. He also materially increases the fruit-bearing 

 capacity of the trees by retaining and encouraging many horizontal branches which 

 grow outward just above the height of a man's head. A lateral growth, suckerous 

 or otherwise, is selected and pruned back each winter to two feet or so until a 

 fruiting branch five or six feet, or more, long and an inch or so in diameter is 

 dereloped. I have observed in many orchards that branches of this sort, more or 

 less horizontal, are very heavy bearers. Another practice carried out in this orchard 

 is a similar treatment of smaller growths throughout the tree to encourage stocky, 

 fruiting branches beset with fruit spurs and buds. This method consistently 

 followed should retain indefinitely a large fruiting area in the lower parts of these 

 trees, as I have observed in some older orchards thus treated. Smaller spurs may 

 succumb, but these will persist. Even suckerous growths can in this manner be 

 converted into fruit-bearing branches if necessary. The above orchard began bearing 

 bountifully during the fourth season's growth. The trunk and main branches of these 

 trees are greater in girth measure than other trees of the same age in this district. 

 The height and spread of branches is also unsurpassed. 



Another grower has adopted a long-pruning method, but in this case too many 

 main branches were retained and rigorous summer pruning practiced, with the 

 result that the main branches are relatively slender and the interior of the tree too 

 much shaded. 



Summer pruning to remove the suckerous growths in the lower parts of the tree 

 some consider essential, others do not. My observations and experiments lead me 

 to believe that trees trained under the summer pruning regime are not as stocky at 

 bearing age as those not so treated. In my experiments trees not given this early 

 summer pruning showed, in the following autumn, greater diameter of trunk and 

 main branches, but shorter growth than did the trees not so pruned. This reduction 

 of foliage by early summer pruning also prevents the root from growing to its utmost, 

 so that the tree has less root to push growth with the following spring, while soil 

 and climatic conditions are most favorable to growth. In the nursery row I have 

 seen a striking difference in size of root system between trees summer pruned and 

 those not so pruned, and also between roots grafted to slow-growing tops, such as the 

 prune, and those grafted to rank-growing tops, such as the apricot. In my judgment 

 a late summer suckering about the time the moisture supply is becoming short — 

 when the terminal growth is stopping and terminal buds forming — would usually be 

 the more reasonable procedure. Even those occasional immense "suckers'' probably 

 add so much to the sap-carrying capacity of the branch it is "robbing" as to justify 

 its retention until late summer. 



In conclusion, the writer would suggest to growers in San Benito County a longer 

 pruning system in developing young apricot orchards than has usually been prac- 

 ticed, coupled with a studious attention to detail of securing the usual ideal shape 

 with center not filled in so dense, and the development of stocky fruiting wood 

 throughout the lower parts of the tree. The early returns secured by this method 

 should be especially helpful to the beginner who is working on limited capital. 



