Page 24 



BETTER FRUIT 



December 



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Pruning and Shaping Young Trees 



A. G. Craig, of Deer Paik, Washington, before Fruit Producers' Congress, Spokane, Nov. 16, 1914 



THIS article is limited to the dis- 

 cussion of pruning and shaping the 

 tree up to five years of age and does 

 not cover the problems of pruning the 

 bearing tree, and is confined almost 

 wholly to apple and pear trees. Most 

 of the thoughts contained in this article 

 are the resulting ideas gleaned by the 

 writer from five years' experience su- 

 pervising the pruning of 7,000 acres of 

 orchard in one district in Washington 

 and a close study of pruning in the 

 other fruit-growing districts of the 

 Northwest and also of Michigan. 



It being universally conceded by 

 fruitgrowers that the low-headed as 

 opposed to the high-headed tree is the 

 more desirable, therefore this article 

 will not discuss the advantages of the 

 low-headed tree. Just how low the 

 heads should be will depend somewhat 

 on the texture of the soil, the variety 

 of fruit and somewhat on the grower. 

 On light soils and upright-growing 

 trees, the first limb of the head may be 

 as low as eight inches from the surface 

 of the soil, and thorough cultivation 

 maintained with extension discs and 

 other wide harrows, so adjusted that 

 the team may walk at considerable dis- 

 tance from the trunks of the trees and 

 still till practically all of the surface 



soil. But with more heavy soils and 

 trees with spreading habits, or if the 

 grower expects to grow humus crops 

 among the trees that require a plow to 

 turn down, the heads must be high 

 enough so that a plow can be run quite 

 close to the trees. 



The important thing in training and 

 pruning an orchard is to get our ideal 

 tree and purpose of the tree correctly 

 fixed in our mind and to make each cut 

 cause the tree in hand to conform more 

 nearly to that ideal. One of the great 

 errors made by the grower is that of 

 changing ideals and methods of prun- 

 ing. What is accoiuplished one season 

 is defeated the next by the pruner 

 having a different ideal in mind. A 

 perfect appearing tree from an artistic 

 standpoint is not always the best fruit 

 tree. The trees should be trained so 

 that when they reach the hearing age 

 they have room to raise a good qual- 

 ity of fruit and at the same time have 

 ample wood to bear a heavy load, with 

 as few props and other artificial sup- 

 ports as possible. To accomijlish this 

 the pruner should understand the soil 

 and climatic conditions and the nature 

 of every variety of tree in the orchard 

 and prune accordingly. To get a good 

 quality of fruit the tree must be 



thinned and branches shaped to re- 

 ceive an even distribution of light and 

 air. My ideal tree has a leader or a 

 center trunk, but it is not always pos- 

 sible to get a good leader. 



Young trees should be pruned dur- 

 ing the dormant period, excepting as 

 treated later in this article under 

 "Pruning the third year." It is best to 

 leave the pruning of tender trees like 

 peach trees, that are apt to freeze back 

 a good deal, until growth starts in the 

 spring, also small trees that require 

 very little time to prune; but the com- 

 mercial grower who has large orchards 

 should begin in December or even in 

 late November and improve some of 

 the milder days. Most authorities 

 agree that the wounds heal a little bet- 

 ter when pruned just before the trees 

 start growth, but apple and pear trees 

 may be pruned at any time during the 

 dormant period, and if so, why not 

 start as soon as the leaves are off so 

 that the operation can be completed 

 early and get the work out of the way 

 so it does not intercfere with spring 

 spraying. 



The pruner should understand thor- 

 oughly the principles and habits of tree 

 growth. To emphasize some of the 

 most important ones I shall put them 

 in the form of questions and answers: 



W'hat effect has heavy dormant prun- 

 ing on a tree? 



It stimulates long, heavy wood 

 growth. 



^\^lat is the difference in the efl'ect 

 of cutting one branch lightly and an- 

 other branch severely? 



The branch cut lightly usually grows 

 stouter than the other, but the new 

 growth on it is not usually so long as 

 the new growth on the branch cut se- 

 verely. This is one of the most impor- 

 tant things to remember in pruning 

 trees. 



How can a weak limb on a young 

 tree be strengthened? 



Cut it longer than the stronger limbs 

 surrounding it. 



^^^^y do we get the desired results 

 by this practice? 



The long branches have more buds 

 and, other things being equal, it will 

 produce more leaves, thereby getting 

 more food to increase its diameter. 



How can you frequently prevent bad 

 crotches? 



By never cutting two closely-attached 

 limbs the same length. Two closely- 

 attached branches of the same size 

 most always are weak at the unions, 

 especially if the angle is narrow. If 

 one branch is cut shorter than the 

 other it gives the long branch the ad- 

 vantage, and when the load comes the 

 two branches are not pulling against 

 each other. 



Why do we cut the leader longer than 

 other branches? 



To keep it in advance of the other 

 part of the tree and to strengthen it. 



So far the article has treated the sub- 

 ject in a general way and given general 

 principles to follow, but let us consider 

 tlie subject in a little more concrete 

 form. 



One-year-old trees are commonly 

 used for planting. I prefer two-year- 



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