16 THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING 



alike as any two apple trees which I have ever 

 seen, and they stand only twenty -five feet apart. 

 I measured the growth of 1891 on one of 

 these trees and found it to have been 745 

 inches. The tree was then thoroughly pruned 

 (February 17), and this pruning removed 460 

 inches of wood, of which 432 inches was new- 

 wood. The total weight of this wood was seven 

 and three-eighths ounces. The other tree was 

 not pruned. During 1892, the unpruned tree 

 produced 118 new twigs, with a total length of 

 1,758 inches, while the pruned tree produced 

 120 new twigs and made a total growth of 1,926 

 inches. The pruned tree, therefore, made 14 

 feet more growth than the other, which is a 

 large proportion for a tree only three years set ; 

 and the growth was stouter upon this tree, also. 

 In other words, a % tree from which about forty 

 feet of branches had been cut bore at the end 

 of a single season fourteen feet more wood than 

 a similar tree which had not been pruned. 

 Aside from the greater growth which this prun- 

 ing induced, the experiment shows in common 

 with all similar ones that it is impossible, as I 

 have already said, to injure trees by what is 

 called a shock. It is often said that the time 

 of the year when pruning is performed influences 

 the amount of growth. It is said that pruning 

 in winter makes wood and pruning in summer 

 makes fruit. It is certainly true that winter 



