86 



Principles and Practice of Pruning. 



equal distances (Fig. 112). All the other shoots should be rubbed 

 off with the thumb and finger as soon as they form. The second 

 year the same process is repeated on the new shoots, and continued 

 until a handsome, even, symmetrical framework for the future head 

 is obtained, after which comparatively little attention will be neces- 



' 





Fig. no. Unformed 

 tree. 



Fig. in. Unformed tree, left 

 unpruned till older. 



Fig. 112. Well formed 

 head. 



sary. A large orchard of young trees may be managed in this way 

 with a very few days' labor far less than that afterwards required 

 in cutting out large limbs and giving shape to the distorted tops of 

 full-grown, neglected orchards. These rules will apply, substantially, 

 to the pruning of standard pears, except that they generally require 

 less thinning out. 



Nearly the same course is to be pursued in forming the heads of 

 dwarf apple-trees, with the exception that the base of the head 

 should be only about ten inches from the ground (Fig. 18); or, if 

 they be half standards on Doucain stocks, the heads should be 

 about twenty inches or two feet high. 



