SUMMER PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES 121 



pieces when the wind and weight of fruit test its strength. The methods 

 of summer pruning employed in different parts of the State for different 

 fruits will be considered in connection with the special chapters on 

 these fruits. 



Summer pruning to preserve form is another matter, and relates in 

 the main to pinching in, to check undesirable extension and to direct 

 the sap toward shoots in which growth is desired. This practice is 

 approved by most of our orchardists, and is employed by them to a 

 greater or less extent. More people believe in it than practice it, how- 

 ever, because the summer months, with their long succession of fruits 

 to be gathered and shipped or dried, and the additional consideration 

 that there is always a scarcity of labor at this time, give the orchardist 

 so much work to do that he is more apt to confine his "pinching" to a 

 little that he may do now and then when he has a few moments' leisure 

 than to do the work thoroughly and systematically. The result is that 

 the regular winter pruning is the main operation for tree shaping in 

 this State. 



There is such a great difference in opinion about summer pruning 

 that it will be very difficult to make any assertions about it which will 

 not be disputed. Much of this difference comes, of course, from differ- 



Weak tree from ill-spaced branches. 



ent conditions prevailing in different trees and in different parts of 

 the State, and some of these will be met, as already promised, in follow- 

 ing chapters. Leaving these wholly out of consideration at this time, 

 it is safe to advise those who wish to secure symmetry or any particular 

 form in any kind of a tree, that they can resort to summer pinching 

 with advantage, and can sometimes to advantage remove wood too 

 large for the thumb and finger to sever. 



Constant watchfulness should be maintained for adventitious shoots 

 starting out on stem or limb at points where branches are not desired. 

 Wherever they start out strongly, they should be pinched, or entirely 

 removed, according to the best judgment to be formed in each case. 

 They should not be allowed to divert the sap from the fruiting wood 

 to make the generally coarse and sterile wood which is characteristic 

 of them. Suckers which properly, according to Downing, are "shoots 

 sent up from the root or from parts of the stem below the surface of 

 the soil," should be removed whenever discovered. In common Cali- 

 fornia parlance the term "sucker" is used as a synonym for "water- 

 sprout" and signifies undesirable shooting from any part of the tree or 

 vine. 



