366 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



too high on account of undue exposure to wind and sun-scald and 

 inconvenience in gatherings the fruit; neither must it be headed too 

 low on account of inconvenience in cultivation and because the 

 branches of the head will extend upward at too acute an angle and 

 be liable to split down in the crotch. My observation here would 

 indicate that the proper height to head apples, pears and cherries 

 is twenty inches, and plums, prunes and peaches eighteen. 



The principal advantage in using young trees is that they can all 

 be headed at a uniform and proper height. If older trees that have 

 already branched are used, the best that can be done is to select 

 three branches that come out as near as possible together and as 

 near the proper height from the ground as possible, to form a head. 

 The object of using three liinbs for a head, is that two would not 

 make a balanced tree, and also would be likely to split apart, while 

 more than three would be almost sure to crowd each other and split 

 the tree. Three limbs coming out at nearly the same point will 

 grow together and form a "crotch head," that will seldom split. The 

 first winter after the three branches that are to form the head have 

 been thrown out, shorten them back to twelve inches, more or less, 

 according to the vigor of the tree, and remove all other branches 

 and suckers from the trunk. This constitutes what is known as 

 "first pruning." 



The next winter the three branches will be found to have thrown 

 out laterals from the several buds near their ends, and smaller 

 branches and suckers will be scattered over the entire tree. We 

 have now reached a point where the pruner must hereafter depend 

 more on his judgment and less on rules. He should leave one, two, 

 or three of the strongest or best placed laterals on each of the three 

 branches, according to the way the tree is balanced, and remove 

 those that are likely to cross or crowd in subsequent growth. The 

 laterals he has left should be shortened in, and all undesirable 

 branches and suckers removed. This constitutes second pruning. 



The third pruning is the same as the second, except a few small 

 laterals, low down on the main branches, may be left on early bear- 

 ing trees, as on these the first fruit will appear. The shortening in 

 process is usually abandoned after the third pruning in this coun- 

 try, but may be continued for a year or two longer if the tree has not 

 completed its growth. The proper length to shorten in any lateral, 

 as I said, must be determined by the size and vigor of the tree. 

 Shortening in the shoots of a vigorous tree too much forces too 

 manj'^ of the remaining buds to throw out laterals, which form a 

 a dense top and may continue growing so late as to be winter-killed. 

 In shortening in always make the cut just above a healthy bud and 

 slanting slightly downward towards the other side. A tree can be 

 made to assume a spreading habit by cutting to an outside bud or 

 the reverse to an inside bud. 



By following the inethod I have described you will have a low- 

 headed tree, the three limbs of which extend upward and outward, 

 branching occasionally to fill up the space as the top widens out. 

 This wine glass or vase form of the tree is almost universally used 

 on the Pacific coast and is the best that could be devised for so 



