80 LUTHER BURBANK 



As TO MERE SIZE 



Almost the first thought that comes to one 

 who goes into the average orchard and looks 

 about with a really observant eye is that orchard 

 trees in general are not well adapted to man's 

 needs in the matter of size. 



I have in mind certain orchards of New Eng- 

 land and Long Island, for example, in which the 

 apple trees seem to have done their very best to 

 rival the elms and oaks in size. Their trunks and 

 main central branches rise, barren of fruit-pro- 

 ducing branches, to a height of twenty-five or 

 even thirty feet. 



The strength of the tree has quite too often 

 gone to producing wood instead of fruit. Such 

 fruit as does appear is suspended so high that 

 long ladders are quite often required to reach it. 



This is obviously wrong. There is no reason 

 why the apple tree should be permitted to grow 

 high into the air even if it has the inherent pro- 

 pensity to do so. By proper pruning the young 

 tree can be made to assume a spreading form, so 

 that it will bear most of its fruit within easy 

 reach. Moreover, it is easily possible through 

 selective breeding to develop an apple stock that 

 will have no tendency to grow into tall, or other- 

 wise ill-shaped trees, but will naturally take on 



