Page 4 



BETTER FRUIT 



December, 1920 



Illustrations showing three and four year old trees after being pruned. In the center of the 

 four year old tree can be seen the natural tree brace which has just been started. 



more bracing. Then there are so many 

 varieties that open up as they get older 

 and bear fruit, such as the Jonathan, 

 Winter Banana, Spitzenburg and Ortley, 

 that it is very advisable in dealing with 

 these varieties to have plenty of limbs 

 and not to have the tree too open. The 

 third year prune off one-half to two- 

 thirds of the new growth allowing one 

 or two more limbs to be added to the 

 system, but being careful of crotches, 

 formed by two limbs coming from buds 

 too near together on the older limb, 

 also continuing the leader in the center. 

 Prune usually to outside buds, except 

 where there is considerable wind and 

 in the case of a variety like the Jona- 

 than when it is advisable to prune all 

 limbs to the wind. Take the can of 

 white lead around again and paint all 

 large wounds. Be careful not to prune 

 all the limbs the same height from the 

 ground, thus making the top of the 

 tree look as though it had been sheared 

 and giving the whole tree a storied ap- 

 pearance. Should the tree be headed 

 too high, .or there being no limb in 

 the trunk where the grower might de- 

 sire one, often the insertion of a bud in 

 August will start a limb the following 

 spring. This bud will not always grow, 

 but will frequently remain dormant 

 for a season and sometimes start the 

 following spring. By the end of this 

 season we should have a fairly well 

 shaped tree. The writer does not be- 

 lieve in summer pruning (heading back 

 in the summer) a very young tree. The 

 theory is that it is unnecessary to se- 

 cure a long thin growth, and checking 

 the flow of sap at the terminals makes 

 the limbs and trunk larger on that ac- 

 count. This is very often true but we 

 find that entirely checking the growth 

 of the tree devitalizes it so much that 

 in the long run it will not measure up 

 in size with a tree that has been let 

 alone in the summer time. Then again, 

 this checking starts a tender growth at 

 the terminals which usually grows later 



in the fall and the wood does not ripen 

 up as well as it should to enter the 

 winter and the limbs are therefore 

 more susceptible to winter killing. 

 Summer pruning for fruit a year or 

 two later is entirely a different matter, 

 but the first few years we want only to 

 get as strong and large a tree as pos- 

 sible. 



Our tree is now three years old. This 

 year two new steps enter into the 

 shaping of the tree, the addition of 

 laterals and natural braces. We have 

 not mentioned natural braces (the 

 weaving together of two cross limbs) 

 heretofore, as it is desirable to have 

 them rather high up above the head of 

 the tree, thus allowing less leverage 

 upon the limb in question when the 

 strain of a heavy load of fruit is upon 

 it. The writer believes in being very 

 generous in the use of the natural 

 brace, — it may be somewhat of a 

 nuisance to remove the water sprouts 

 each year from the braces when the 

 tree is young, but that is far preferable 

 to having a limb split and ruining the 

 shape of the tree. Again prune off one- 

 half the new growth, opening up the 

 leader in the center and allowing pos- 

 sibly one lateral to each main limb to 

 come out radially from the center of 

 the tree. Choose the laterals several 

 buds below where the second year's 

 growth is pruned off so as to eliminate 

 the tendency to crotch and prune the 

 laterals more severely than the up- 

 right limbs. From now on the grower 

 will probably have ideas of his own 

 as to the shaping of his trees and will 

 need no more advice so we will here 

 leave him for better or for worse. 



Protecting Young Trees. 

 Not included in the category of prun- 

 ing is the care of young trees where 

 they are apt to be hurt by storms. 

 Should they not be cared for the prob- 

 lem of pruning becomes a complicated 

 one. In sections where deep snows and 



silver thaws are likely to occur young 

 trees should be staked and tied. Should 

 the tying prove useful only once in 

 four or five years, the saving of the 

 trees that one year will justify the ex- 

 pense. The writer has tied up trees 

 for several years, but only once during 

 that time was there a very bad storm, 

 then every tied-up tree was completely 

 untouched while there was consider- 

 able breaking of limbs and trunks in 

 orchards that were not protected. 

 There need be no fear whatsoever that 

 the limbs, no matter how tightly they 

 may be gathered together, will not 

 spring back to their original place when 

 the cords are cut in the spring. Bind- 

 ing twine is best for this tieing. For 

 the one-year-old trees it is safer to 

 stake each tree, driving the stake about 

 a foot from the base of the trunk and 

 slanting it slightly inwards, — then the 

 branuches are gathered tightly in two 

 places and they are first tied to the 

 trunk and the whole is then tied to 

 the stake. This absolutely protects a 

 young tree from any injury due to 

 storms in winter. 



When the tree has had two seasons 

 growth, the trunk is usualy strong 

 enough to do away with the staking, but 

 the branches are gathered in above the 

 head as tightly as they can be drawn 

 without breaking and then tied. They 

 are tied again at the top and this 

 gives great stiffness to the tree and 

 eliminates any center where there can 

 collect a ball of snow or ice. It is bet- 

 ter for this work to be done by two 

 persons, one to gather in and hold the 

 limbs and the other to do the tieing. 

 After the third season the trees should 

 be able to take care of themselves, 

 though it is a simple protection to run 

 one cord around the branches at about 

 the middle of the tree and to draw in 

 rather tightly. It might be thought that 

 this is going to considerable trouble 

 and expense to insure the safety of the 

 trees, but the total cost for several 

 years will not equal the damage a 

 young orchard might receive during a 

 single storm. 



