PRUNING THE ORCHARD. 



PRUNING is a means to an end. In 

 the practice of pruning there should 

 be in the mind of the operator, some 

 definite purpose in view. The kind 

 of pruning- will depend on the purpose for 

 which the tree is intended, whether for wood, 

 for fruit, for shade, or for ornamental pur- 

 poses. 



Natural Pruning. — Trees under natural 

 conditions are constantly being pruned. 

 Every fall nature strips the trees of their 

 leaves. This is their regular annual prun- 



ing knife, comes along and removes the 

 dead branch. In this way trees are con- 

 stantly ridding themselves of useless branch- 

 es, and the pruning so effected is undoubt- 

 edly a benefit to the branches that remain, 

 aud to the general growth and improvement 

 of the tree. 



Artificial Pruning. The trees of the 

 orchard by virtue of selection, hybridization 

 and cultivation are in a highly specialized 

 condition, and to be maintained so must re- 

 ceive special treatment. The fruit tree is in 



Fig. 22i6. Fig. 2217. 



Fig. 2216.— A painted wound almost healed over. 



Fig. 2217. — Cross section of trunk of apple tree. (S) — Sapwood ; (I) — Portion changfing from Sap- 

 wood to Heartwood ; (H) — Heartwood. At the outer end of the line is the thin cambium layer under 

 the bark. 



ing. Besides this, there is a continual prun- 

 ing of buds and branches. If every bud on 

 a tree were allowed to develop, the tree 

 would become a veritable brush-pile. The 

 buds most favorably situated as regards 

 light, get most nourishment, and the less fa- 

 vored become starved and drop off. The 

 lower limbs of trees and those within the 

 crown become weakened and die from lack 

 of sunlight ; then the wind, nature's prun- 



a sense a machine for manufacturing fruit, 

 and intelligent pruning is one of the means 

 by which it can be made to manufacture the 

 most fruit of the best quality in the shortest 

 time and to keep up the output for the long- 

 est possible period. A correct understand- 

 ing, therefore, of this machine and all its 

 working parts, is necessary to its most suc- 

 cessful manipulation. 



Structure of the Tree. — If the trunk of 



