HINTS FOR FRUIT GROWERS. 



317 



over the trees after 6 or 8 inches of growth 

 has been made and pinch off an occasional 

 shoot which has not developed in con- 

 formity with the pyramidal form. Some- 

 times two leaders will form nearly equal in 

 size. One of these should be pinched back 

 and the other allowed to remain. 



In the winter pruning- the central leader is 

 first selected and cut back to the height at 

 which the next whorl of limbs is desired. In 

 the dwarf pear this should be about 12 

 inches ; in Bartletts and other standards 

 about 14 to 16 inches ; in strong growing 

 Orientals, like the Kieffer and Le Conte, 18 

 to 20 or even 24 inches may be proper. The 

 lower whorl of main limbs is then examined 

 and about three or four branches are select- 

 ed. These are'cut back to a length of about 

 12 to 18 inches, or about two-thirds the 

 length of the leader. All other branches or 

 twigS interfering with this main framework 

 are then removed. In the next year's prun- 

 ing, at the conclusion of two years' growth, 

 the central leader is again selected and cut 

 off at the same length as in the previous 

 year, the i -year-old whorl of branches at its 

 base is examined and pruned in about the 

 same manner as the previous year, leaving 

 three or four twigs to form main limbs, and 

 the lower whorl, which now has two years' 

 growth on each branch, is treated in much 

 the same way that the pyramidal top has 

 been treated, namely, the leader for each 

 branch is selected and headed back, leaving 

 it about two-thirds as long as the leader at 

 the top of the tree. At the base of the 

 leader on the 2-year wood about two or 

 three secondary branches are selected and 

 headed back, so as to subordinate them to 

 the leader, and the other twigs on these 

 branches are cut off. All of these main 



branches are selected with reference to their 

 forming the framework of the tree exactly as 

 described in pruning for the vase form of 

 tree. Temporary fruiting branches may be 

 left in same manner also as described in that 

 form. Water sprouts and limbs in unde- 

 sirable places are of course removed. 



The third-year pruning of the pyramidal 

 form proceeds on the same line, the upper 

 part of the tree being pruned exactly as in 

 the previous years, the only addition being 

 that one more joint is added to each main 

 branch and one more of lateral branches Has 

 to receive attention each year. The pyra- 

 midal form of tree does not change, and the 

 general plan of pruning continues the same 

 through its entire life. The only thing to 

 avoid in this type of tree is the tendency to 

 become too thick and bushy in the repeated 

 heading back. To avoid this the pruner 

 should be prepared to thin out unnecessary 

 branches as well as to cut back. Fruit 

 spurs will begin to form on the branches 

 after the third year. These may be left 

 temporarily and afterwards cut away. It is 

 undesirable even in the temporary form to 

 allow young branches to become thickly 

 grown with lateral fruit spurs, for the 

 reason that such spurs are not nearly so 

 well nourished as those on smaller branches 

 carrying vegetative shoots, and furthermore 

 such branches are a great deal more liable 

 to destruction by pear blight. These num- 

 erouslateralfruit spurs, when in bloom, afford 

 many opportunities for blossom-blight in- 

 fection, and when such a branch is attacked 

 by blossom blight the disease has only a 

 very short distance to run from the fruit 

 spur into the main limb, which it can girdle 

 with a minimum amount of diffusion. 



House Culture OF THE Foreign Grape. — time, the fruit selling readily at $1.50 a 



The time will probably come, in America, pound. The cultivation went down for 



when the European grape will again be a several reasons, among them the fear of 



valuable commercial fruit, as it was at one competition with the out-door grown Euro- 



