PROPER TRAINING OF TREES 



and to one that grows in the direction desired. (Three-eighths 

 or a quarter-inch above the bud is the proper distance to cut.) 

 The tree will throw its sap into this bud or branch and develop 

 it with all the strength formerly given to both it and the part 

 removed. Direct the shaping of your tree by following this 

 rule. In cutting leaders or shoots, remember that the natural 

 habit will be to grow straight on. Thus, if you cut a tall-grow- 

 ing shoot on a two-year tree, you probably will find another 

 shoot extending straight on up the next season, with only a 

 slight offset where you made the cut. 



By keeping the center open, you will avoid nearly all crossed 

 limbs, but where these are found, one of them always should 

 be cut out. When you find two limbs growing parallel, cut 

 away one. You can have a "double-decked" tree, but you 

 cannot succeed with a three- or four-decked one. When there 

 are more than two branches between the earth and the sky 

 at any one place, remove- all but the best two. Never cut a 

 good limb that is in the right place in order to get under it 

 with a horse. The limb is worth more than ten times what the 

 cultivation would be worth. Mulch under that limb. The 

 tallest apple trees should not be more than twenty feet high. 

 When they become higher than this, head them back once or 

 twice a year, and keep them down to workable size. 



Just as stronger, bigger trees will overshadow and dwarf 

 the leaner ones beside them, the lusty limbs or buds will stunt 

 and starve out the smaller ones on the same trees. You must 

 keep a balance between the various parts, or the biggest ones 

 will get still bigger, and the smaller ones smaller yet. Water 

 sprouts should be nipped when they start, unless the tree 

 needs new limbs where they grow out. 



These principles will enable any one to go to any kind of a 

 fruit tree, and, after a little study, train it into any desired 

 shape as it grows. To make the tree bear fruit, and fruit of 

 the finest kind, other elements and habits are to be considered. 

 But, in all pruning, remember that constant watching is best. 

 Go over your trees at least once a year, twice if possible, giving 

 them the nips they need. In this way little heavy cutting will 

 be required, and the total amount of work will be lessened 

 greatly. Ten minutes to a tree twice a year will accomplish 

 much more than two hours to a tree every two or three years. 



Study of the fruit buds will open the eyes of many growers, 

 first as to their method of growth and life, then as to their 

 location. Fruit buds are usually thicker and fatter than leaf 

 buds, and have a shorter point. You can learn to tell them apart 

 by studying the trees in the fall and spring. We do not have 

 space here to explain the full process of their formation, but 

 we can say that fruit buds and leaf buds are transformable 

 to a certain extent. If the growth of a shoot is not checked, 

 all of its buds will make branches. But nature asserts itself; 

 certain buds are checked by stronger ones, even after they 

 have developed into little branches, and these dwarfed buds 

 or branches, since they cannot make new branches of their 

 own, turn to the other work of a tree seed-producing. 



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