Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



February 



Ideal two-year-old peach tree ready for pruning. 



Her being pruned. 



Pruning Peaches in the South 



By J. A. Hughes, Horticulturist, American Refrigerator Transit, Missouri Pacific Railway 



NO orchard operation so vitally con- 

 trols the yield of peaches as does 

 pruning. Where this is neglected, the 

 amount of fruit produced decreases 

 each year in quantity and quality until 

 it becomes negligible. 



The life of an un- 

 pruned orchard will 

 rarely be over ten 

 years, while a well- 

 pruned orchard will 

 produce twenty - five 

 or more crops of 

 fruit. 



The trees should be 

 headed very low, al- 

 lowing from four to 

 six leaders to de- 

 velop. These should 

 be cut back severely 

 the second and third 

 years. By doing this, 

 a sturdy frame is se- 

 cured which spreads 

 out like a vase and 

 affords a large sur- 

 face upon which the 

 smaller branches and 

 fruit spurs may de- 

 velop. The maximum 

 amount of sunlight is 

 admitted, which is so 

 necessary for the pro- 

 duction of highly- 

 colored fruit. 



The ideal peach 

 trees are stocky with 



comparatively short and rigid leaders. 

 These are secured only by heavy prun- 

 ing during the first four years. Such 

 trees are able to hold up heavy crops 

 of fruit and maintain the greatest ex- 

 posure to air and light. 



AMicre heavy pruning is not 

 done the leaders develop into 

 long and slender whip-like 

 branches, which when heavily 

 loaded either break to pieces 

 or bend down into a dense 

 prostrate mass. The fruit borne 

 on such trees for obvious rea- 

 sons is poor in quality and 

 always contains many culls. 



A low-headed tree is easily 

 jHuned, thinned and sprayed, 

 and the fruit can be picked 

 without ladders, thus saving 

 much time and avoiding 

 bruised fruit. In Mr. Bert John- 

 son's four-thousand-acre peach 

 orchard in South Arkansas 

 there is not a ladder. He has 

 never used one, and says they 

 are not necessary if proper 

 pruning is done. 



Fruit buds of the peach are 

 produced only on the new 

 wood, i. e., the fruit buds for 

 the 1919 crops were formed on 

 Ihe new growth during the 

 summer of 1918. Each year a 

 l)art of the old wood should be 

 cut back to keep up the pro- 

 duction of new and bearing 

 wood on the main branches. If 

 this is not done, the bearing 

 surface will continue to be 

 formed out on the ends of the 

 limbs, further and further from 

 the center of the tree. A good 

 rule is to cut back from one- 

 third to one-half of the past 

 year's growth. Always leave the new 

 shoots coming out near the base of the 

 main leaders. If these are pruned back 

 one-half, they will produce much fruit 

 and at the same time shade the limbs 

 from the sun, thus preventing sunscald, 

 which does so much damage in Arkan- 

 sas. In thinning out branches as would 

 interfere with the circulation of air 

 and light. 



/ 



Ideal six-year-old peach tree, properly pruned. Note low heading and open vase center, giving maximum crops. 



