SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART N. 635 



were thought to be certainly dead; yet they produced a fair crop of 

 fruit the same season, though somewhat undersized, and by the next 

 June were all in splendid condition, the foliage being of good size and 

 color. A good new growth had been made and a large amount of fruit 

 set. 



Similar observations were made in a Bartlett pear orchard in which 

 the trees were about fifteen years old. A number of sweet cherry trees, 

 which, when examined, showed various degrees of discoloration in the 

 bark and wood, recovered from the injury. Japanese plum trees, which, 

 when examined in March, were thought to be dead, ripened a fair crop 

 of fruit during the season and when examined in September had made 

 a thick layer of new wood and bark. 



All these observations indicate that it is extremely difficult to tell 

 by any ordinary observation the real condition of trees at the end 

 of the winter season and their ability to overcome the winter injury. 



A number of experiments were made to determine what effects dif- 

 ferent methods of pruning might have on the recovery of the trees. 

 In some instances the young trees were cut off below the snow line 

 and the old trees were cut back to the large limbs or "dehorned." 

 Other trees were given a moderate pruning, and some were not pruned 

 at all. 



When peach or pear trees seven to eight years old or over were cut 

 back to where the limbs were about an inch and a half to two inches 

 in diameter or "dehorned," they failed to recover and by the following 

 September all were dead. On the other hand, young peach trees two to 

 five years old thus treated made a splendid recovery, and trees thus 

 pruned back in January made a better growth than when the cutting 

 back was deferred until March. Young trees in the same orchard not 

 pruned at all either died outright or the new growth was mostly in the top, 

 making an undesirable tree. One of the objections to pruning young 

 peach trees back so severely is that it induces a too great growth of 

 new wood which forms a bushy top and necessitates a good deal of 

 additional pruning. The results of these experiments "indicate that 

 the winter-injured trees of over seven or eight years are killed by 

 'dehorning,' while younger trees may be treated in that way and ex- 

 pected to make a good recovery." 



In orchards of both old and young peach trees a moderate amount 

 of pruning back was compared with no pruning and with "dehorning." 

 The trees moderately pruned made in every instance a much better 

 growth than those not pruned at all. Old trees which died when "de- 

 horned" recovered when only moderately pruned. 



Much the larger number of the injured trees were not pruned at all, 

 and while many of these made a recovery which was satisfactory to 

 the grower, it was evident that the average condition of these trees was 

 not nearly as good as when they were given a moderate pruning. The 

 unpruned trees contained a much larger amount of dead wood, and the 

 new growth was more generally at the extreme ends of the branches, 

 which made the top of the tree too spreading. 



In experiments in pruning frost-injured peach trees at the South 

 Haven sub-station, S. H. Fulton states that much risk is incurred in 



