260 SOME SPECIFIC ADVICE 



179 and 180. This also has a bad crotch, and 

 eventually one of the branches was cut away, 

 as shown in A, Fig. 180, leaving a tree of good 

 form, with the branches started about four feet 

 high. The general thinning of the top, as shown 

 in Fig. 180, is perhaps about right. A sour 

 cherry (Early Richmond) is shown, after prun- 

 ing, in Fig. 181. This tree has an almost ideal 

 type of branching, and' the pruning is about as 

 near perfect as we can ordinarily make it. 



An apricot tree is shown in Figs. 182 and 

 183. This tree grows against the south side of 

 a building, although it is not trained on the 

 wall. It is desired, therefore, to have a very 

 flat and spreading top. The branches were 

 started low, but they arise too nearly from a 

 common point, thereby making a bad crotch, 

 yet the apricot is less likely to split than trees 

 which bear heavier loads of fruit. The tree 

 was neglected for three or four years, and when 

 pruning became necessary, it was thinned out to 

 the extent shown in Fig. 183. The head can 

 thereafter be kept free and open with only a 

 slight amount of annual cutting. 



A neglected peach tree, four years planted, 

 is shown in Fig. 184. It is very thick, and some 

 of the lower branches are weak and almost dead 

 because they have been overshaded by the dense 

 top. This tree was pruned to the form shown 

 in Fig. 185, and is now a handsome and prolific 



