OVER -BEARING 165 



however, has more effect in bringing the trees 

 into shape and in correcting the neglect of pre- 

 ceding years than in directly inducing fruit -bear- 

 ing. A heavy pruning adds vigor and produces 

 new wood (Sections 1, 3). The orchard is reno- 

 vated and rejuvenated, and the grower may then 

 begin and carry forward a consecutive treatment, 

 which he should have begun when the trees were 

 planted. After two or three years, the trees begin 

 to steady down, and fruit -bearing should then 

 begin; but fruit -bearing cannot be maintained if 

 the orchard is allowed to lapse into its former 

 condition. 



We are now able to see that the common habit 

 of pruning the orchard heroically every two or 

 three years is one of the very best means of 

 keeping the trees unbalanced and upset, and of in- 

 ducing wood growth, and thereby preventing fruit- 

 bearing. All efforts to make plants bear annually 

 must fail unless consecutive good care is given 

 year by year. Light pruning every year is more 

 useful than the same aggregate amount of pruning 

 given only in occasional or even iu alternate years. 



Over -bearing is itself a disturbance of equilib- 

 rium, and is almost necessarily followed by a reac- 

 tion of under -bearing. This corollary has such im- 

 portant bearing on practice that it should receive 

 careful attention. One extreme follows another, 

 and the oftener these extremes occur the greater is 

 the likelihood that they will become an unremedi- 



