Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



November 



buds and spurs which produce fruit. 

 The Spitzcnberg represents another 

 type. Here we have a tree, the branches 

 of which become long and rangy, pro- 

 ducing few laterals, thus having too 

 small a bearing surface. This tree also 

 has weak spurs. A large percentage of 

 the spurs on any Spitzenberg tree be- 

 comes devitalized after three years. 

 The Spitzenberg needs much heading in 

 in order to force out laterals and to 

 constantly bring out new wood which 

 will have plenty of bearing surface. I 

 had the opportunity to inspect some 

 Spitzenbergs forty years of age, and I 

 could see by looking over these trees 

 what was going to happen to a large 

 percentage of our .Spitzenbergs unless 

 we change our methods of pruning. 

 The trees largely grow much as does 

 the peach, forcing out long, naked 

 branches on which a few tw^igs bear- 

 ing weak spurs are borne. I fear too 

 many growers are prone to leave too 

 many scaffold branches in their Spitz- 

 enberg trees. I would try to combine 

 my summer and winter pruning in 

 such a way as to produce shorter, 

 stockier main branches, each bearing 

 more laterals. Various parts of the tree 

 should from time to time be headed in 

 or thinned out so as to renew the spurs 

 or revitalize spurs in that portion of 

 the tree. The Ortley represents another 

 type of tree which naturally grows 

 stocky, bearing its fruit and spurs close 

 together on the older wood. Here some 

 heading can be practiced without dis- 

 turbing the tree, and occasionally 

 where a tree becomes somewhat rangy 

 it is wise to head it in and force out a 

 few laterals which in a course of time 

 will become thickly studded with fruit 

 buds and spurs. 



In our pruning we must constantly 

 remember that it is desirable to study 

 each branch of our tree and determine 

 its relation to the whole tree. If some 

 of the main strong branches of the tree 

 are growing at the expense of short or 

 weaker branches that we would like to 

 develop, suppress the strong branches 

 by heading them back or otherwise re- 

 ducing their leaf surface; this will en- 

 courage the weak wood by giving it a 

 larger percentage of the leaf area, 

 which means more growth. Pruning 

 should be well distributed throughout 

 a tree, as a direct stimulation coming 

 from a cut is found close to the point 

 where the cut is made, and if we want 

 a general stimulation of the fruiting 

 system of a tree we have got to make 

 numerous cuts. An example of the 

 above can be nicely illustrated as fol- 

 lows: If you have five main branches 

 on a pear tree and head in strongly or 

 dehorn one of these, the result will be 

 that just below the cut long suckers or 

 watersprouts will develop, but on the 

 uncut branches little or no change will 

 be seen in the spurs. It is largely by 

 distributing our pruning so as to in- 

 clude the other branches that we can 

 get a revitalizing of their parts. 



It would probably be well to say a 

 few words in regard to trees six to ten 

 years of age. I have already indicated 

 such trees are generally overpruned. 

 Thinning rather than heading will 

 bring better results, and this thinning 



may be done in winter and also to good 

 advantage in early summer. By con- 

 fining our pruning to summer and win- 

 ter thinning and a little summer head- 

 ing occasionally most varieties can be 

 made very productive. 



As many growers have pear trees, a 

 few words in regard to pears will be 

 acceptable. The pear has a tendency to 

 produce too many spurs. Anjou, Bart- 

 lett and Winter Nelis often produce a 

 very large number of spurs on a small 

 quantity of wood. Gradually these 

 spurs become weaker and weaker and 

 often set their fruit very poorly, and 

 we say we have a pollination problem 



on our hands. Our experience has 

 shown that a thinning out of such spur 

 clusters seems to revitalize those which 

 are left on the tree, they begin to make 

 a better growth, the fruit on the trees 

 becomes larger and close to the cuts 

 new shoots are grown out which will 

 in turn form new spurs. This is a good 

 illustration of the statement recently 

 made that the stinmlation from a cut 

 comes nearest the cut and frequent cuts 

 are needed to revitalize the spur system 

 of a tree. This work can often be done 

 to best advantage with hand shears. 

 There seems to be a general feeling that 

 Continued on page 18 



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