54 



APPLE GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



PRUNING THE FOURTH AND FIFTH SEASONS. 



At the end of the third season a shapely head should be formed and 

 such a framework for the future tree developed, that pruning ought 

 not to be a difficult matter. Too often do we find orchardists neglect- 

 ing the work after this time. The first three seasons while trees are 

 small the task is neither expensive nor difficult, but as they grow T there 

 is a rapid increase of both expense and difficulty of pruning in general, 

 and the tendency is to be rather careless afterwards. It must be re- 



Fig. 35. A young Gravenstein tree after the third season's pruning, shaped after the 

 methods used in the Sebastopol section. (Photograph by O. E. Bremner) 



membered, however, that pruning for the best results must not be 

 neglected for a single season. Careful, annual pruning, beginning the 

 first season when the trees are set and continued until they no longer 

 bear crops, will do more toward making a success of the apple business 

 than practically everything else. Neglect for one or more seasons, fol- 

 lowed by very heavy pruning as a result, is not conducive to regular 

 bearing of the trees, nor to successful apple culture. 



During the fourth and fifth seasons the trees will bear a little, but 

 should not be allowed to overload themselves. The orchardist should 

 still devote? his energies toward growing trees and not fruit. All inter- 



