Priming Peach Trees 



199 



the body bein^ made out of sheet iron. WTien in use, a fire 

 is started on the bottom, then as it is drawn through the 

 orchard, the brush is thrown into it where in turn it is 

 burned. Another type of burner is similar to this one in 

 its general fea- 

 tures but the body 

 is mounted on low 

 iron trucks. )(j^.:u,;vuL^^-^^iii'; 7' *'rjJ4^nj^;^ 



Such a device 

 as a burner obvi- 

 ously could not be 

 used to advantage 

 where there were 

 many large limbs to be disposed of, but when pruning is done 

 regularly and thoroughly each year, there will be few branches 

 that cannot be handled in this manner without difficulty. 



Fig. 13. — A brush burner. 



SUMMER PRUNING 



Pruning in the summer has been touched on briefly in the 

 sections relating to the pruning of trees during the first three 

 years, but it is well to look a little farther into this feature, 

 since during the past few years it has been advocated more 

 or less for peach, apple, and other fruit-trees. Rather 

 frequent reference is made to the subject in the horticultural 

 literature of recent times. Much of this is somewhat 

 academic without the support of real evidence. However, 

 a number of investigators have carried on work along 

 this line, but the results are conflicting. It may be 

 assumed that the principles of summer pruning are not 

 fully understood, or that the practice frequently is not 

 well executed. 



