10 



The Bulletin 



pruning shear (Fig. 2) and a pruning knife (Fig. 3) will serve the 

 best purpose. For older trees, the types of pruning saws, as shown in 

 (Fig. 4) are of advantage. For larger branches the saws shown in 

 (Fig. 5) Avill be necessary, and should be used instead of a carpenter's 

 hand saw. For pruning peach trees, a pole pniner of the kind shown 

 in (Fig. 6) will do good work. The danger of using long-handled 

 pruners of any kind is that the pruner is likely to become careless and 

 leave stubs and thus injure the trees. Pruning should be done carefully 

 and the branch cut off smoothly, close to the main branch or trunk of 

 the tree. This can best be done with short-handled pruners adapted to 

 size of branch, hardness of wood and kind of tree or vine pruned. 



Fio. 7. — One-year-old apple tree, to be cut back to two feet in height as indicated by 



dotted line. 



Pruning the Apple. 



Pruning should begin when the apple tree is one year old. The 

 straight stem (Fig. 7) without any side branches is cut back at time 

 of planting to a height of two U* throe feet. This will give a low 

 headed tree that can be handled ]»r()])orly later. The tree should not 

 be headed too low, as it is diiliculi to lake care of the soil around the 



