180 THE PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING 



looked upon as conducing in any way to sub- 

 sequent fruitfulness of the plant. 



15. Heading -in induces fruitfulness by check- 

 ing exuberant growth and by encouraging 

 the formation of short lateral growths. 



In Section 9 we have discussed effects of head- 

 ing -in on the growth of wood and the form of 

 the top of the plant. We are now enquiring 

 what effect it has in inducing fruit-bearing. So 

 far as heading -in tends to check woody growth, 

 it conduces to the formation of fruit -buds ; but 

 very heavy heading-back amounts to a heavy 

 pruning and it may, therefore, conduce to the 

 very opposite of fruit production. Therefore, 

 there can be no specific statements as to how 

 much or how frequent heading -in shall be to in- 

 duce productiveness. Everything depends on the 

 vigor and age of tree, extent of cutting, and 

 other local conditions. In fruit-trees which are 

 making a normal growth (say 12 to 20 inches) 

 at bearing age, cutting off a third or fourth of 

 the annual growth may be advisable ; but it must 

 be considered that this cutting -back may have 

 other objects than the inducing of fruit -bearing, 

 such as thinning the fruit, keeping the tree in 

 shape, preventing dwarf trees from outgrowing 

 their stocks, and keeping the stature small in 

 crowded plantings. Heading -in to induce fruit- 

 fulness must not be confounded with the head- 



