394 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[8 July, 1908. 



lightly than before, nor will it be advisable at any future time to increase 

 this number of leaders. The grower must understand that the greater the 

 number of leaders the greater the facility for sap leakage, so that to main- 

 tain fruit spurs in the base of the tree the top must be well open. The 

 leaders should be trained at such angles as will conserve their fruit buds. 

 If they are carried out too horizontallv they will eventually lose their 

 spurs on the underside. 



Every year the leader should be headed back, otherwise fruit spurs 

 will form at the top, produce fruit, and either break down the leader or 

 drag it permanently out of position, and rob the spurs down at the base. 

 Instead of this system developing and maintaining fruit low down in the 

 head of the tree it has just the contrary effect (siiee b, e. page 396), where 



5 AND 6. JOXATHAN APPLE, 5 YEARS OLD, UXPRUNED AND PRUNED. 

 Lower laterals retained temporarily. 



the spurs have all been lost towards the base through bearing at the end, 

 and developing other spurs near the top. The leading or highest bud has 

 strongest attraction for the sap, then the next, and so on downward. From 

 this it will be .seen that as soon as the topmost buds are capable of receiving 

 the amount of sap flowing no further spur development will take place. 

 This is exemplified again in b, c. The four long spurs at the top and the 

 short bud further back were equal to taking up all the sap moving along 

 the leader b, e, and thereby starving the other buds all along the line. By 

 cutting at e the lower buds would have been developed. 



When the leaders, or any of them, are making too vigorous a gro^yth 

 they can be checked by changing their direction frequently and blocking 

 the course of the sap. If you bring water in a drain straight down a hill, 

 it rushes unimpeded in its course to the bottom, but if the same volume 

 of water is brought down in a drain of similar capacity in a zig-zag 

 manner down the slope, never allowing it any long stretches for rushing. 



