IV 



PRUNING 



FRUIT trees will grow and bear without pruning. 

 Among fruit growers there is a considerable party 

 working on a policy of no pruning. Nevertheless, 

 the large majority of practical and scientific men 

 recognize the necessity of pruning of some sort and 

 for all kinds of fruit trees. The argument sometimes 

 advanced that pruning is unnatural and, therefore, 

 necessarily wrong, is particularly worthless. All 

 methods of agriculture and horticulture are unnat- 

 ural. All our work with plants is based on interfer- 

 ence with nature's methods. Only the savage who 

 gathers his fruits from wild trees and vines follows 

 the scheme of nature unrestrained. 



The methods used in pruning are very diverse and 

 are too little understood. Here we find probably 

 the weakest point in American fruit growing. 

 While almost any kind of pruning will keep the 

 trees alive and secure an occasional crop, there are 

 very few men who have a true system of pruning 

 which reaches definite results in the most direct 

 and certain fashion. 



PURPOSES OF PRUNING 



Pruning is practiced upon fruit trees for a great 

 many different purposes, the most important of 

 which are as follows : 



To shape the tree. Especially during the first 

 years after planting, the tree requires constant care 

 in order to train it to the best possible form. 



