PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 173 



tree back pretty well and begin to shape its permanent 

 head. In doing this we must again call to mind the fact 

 that the little tree is blind and ambitious. Numbers of 

 buds will start that, if permitted to grow, will only be in 

 its way later on. It will greatly conserve the strength of 

 the tree if we keep watch for a time and rub these buds 

 off as soon as they start and allow only the four or five 

 to grow that we wish to form the main branches of our 

 tree. Another way is to let all the buds grow as they 

 please and then prune off all but the four or five that we 

 wish to keep the next spring. But this is wasteful, and 

 by the easier method first given, as Mr. Saunders 1 says, 

 we can have a tree as large three years from transplant- 

 ing as could be had in five years by the more wasteful 

 and laborious procedure. 



In forming the head of a young tree we must be care- 

 ful about two things : allowing two branches to start from 

 the same place to make a crotch that will split the tree 

 when it bears its load, and allowing branches to grow 

 across the top, interfering with other limbs and making 

 the crown too dense for air and sunlight to penetrate. 

 This latter we can do by often looking over the tree 

 through the growing season and rubbing off a shoot here 

 and there that we see is taking a wrong direction, and 

 thus keep the top open to sunlight and air without having 

 to saw off large branches. 2 



1 William Saunders. " Pruning of Trees and Other Plants," Yearbook, 

 1898, United States Department of Agriculture. 



2 G. B. Brackett. " The Apple and how to grow it," Farmer's Bulletin, 

 No. //j, United States Department of Agriculture. Figs. 7 and 9 show 

 type forms of trees that have objectionable crotches. 



