aay Pee nee ren ee 
PRUNING FIGS. 173 
fork with its terminal bud will lead off the sap and the brush-like 
formation will not take place. In other words, after a fig tree has 
been necessarily pruned every branchlet as well as every branch 
should possess a terminal bud in order that the new branch system 
may consist of fairly parallel branches. With this point steadily in 
view the next consideration will be that of pruning bearing trees. 
Unlike other fruit trees, the quality and size of the fig is not 
improved directly by heavy pruning, except in cases where fig trees 
are grown in pots or against walls. A fig tree with many branches 
will bear as large and as fine fruit as a fig tree with few branches. 
Indeed, it will as a rule bear larger and better fruit. The object in 
pruning is therefore generally not to increase the size and flavor of 
the fruit. Still, it can not be denied that the proper pruning of old 
and heavy growing fig trees will improve the quality of the fruit indi- 
rectly, though not exactly in the same way as in other fruits. 
The fig must be pruned in order to admit light, heat, and air, and 
to preyent crowding and bad shape and the interference with other 
crops grown among the trees. If the fig crop is the principal one the 
latter consideration must be secondary only. 
Heavy-growing fig trees, such as Adriaties, ete., produce better and 
larger figs if pruned; but this pruning must consist in simply cutting 
off the young year’s wood whenever several branches start out too 
close together from the same limb. Thus in the above variety the 
young bearing wood should be at least 2 feet long, without side 
branches. All other twigs may be cut off close to the main branch, 
but never cut off squarely or simply cut back. Only cut them off 
close to the mother branch, as the latter will then bear better and 
larger figs. 
The pruning of the fig when grown in the open should be confined 
to three or four distinct points. The sterile twigs generally found at 
the base of the main branches should be cut off each year. These 
twigs are generally bent downward, are slender, and seldom bear 
fruit. Larger as well as smaller branches which cross one another 
should be so cut out that no further interference is possible. The 
center of the tree in thick-growing varieties should be thinned out 
or cut entirely away in order to admit sun, air, and light. Lower 
branches too close to the ground should also be cut off close to the 
main stem or main branches; and finally, if a tree is unevenly bal- 
anced the branches on the larger side may be cut back in order to 
properly balance the tree. But in all these operations all cuts should 
be made to a fork and the cut branch should never be without a 
leader. And finally, in any heavy growing and bearing varieties the 
side branches of the yearling wood may be cut off close to the stem. 
As to the time of pruning, the best time is when the leaves have 
fallen and the fig tree is most dormant. Some sap will always flow, 
but the more dormant the tree the better. 
