THE OPENING YEAR 



eighteen months after planting. They should order Jan. 

 three-year-old trees (the dealer has pruned these as ^'^5 

 maidens and two-year-olds), and prune back the 

 branches, some to over half their 

 length (Fig. 8). If they plant 

 in autumn, they should do this 

 pruning back at once. If they 

 plant in spring they should do 

 it when the young leaves are un- 

 folding at the tips. The object 

 of the cutting back is to cause 

 basal buds to break into growth, 

 and form new branches. If it 



were not done, the fresh shoots ^ „ ., 



' Fig. 7.— Pruning a Nursery- 



would come from the tips of the man's two -year -Old 



orimnal branches, and would pro- „ . . / 



t5 ' ^ a. Points of pruning. 



bably be weak and "whippy," so 6. Buds suitable for making 



that the tree had a top-heavy look. ^^ '"^^ 



As a result of the pruning the trees will be likely 

 to push several sturdy branches in the summer after 

 they were planted, in addition to forming fruit buds 

 at the base of the original branches. In the winter 

 a second pruning may be done, but it need not be so 

 severe as the first ; in fact, it will suffice if the branches 

 are shortened to half their length. In after years no 

 further cutting back is likely to be needed, because the 

 trees will be well furnished with sufficient strong 

 branches. It must be remembered that cutting back 

 always tends to multiply branches, and it is possible to 

 extend this unduly, with the result that the tree is all 

 wood and no fruit. 



From its fifth year onward the winter pruning of 

 Apple trees should consist mainly in thinning out shoots 

 where they are getting too thick, and cutting back the 

 29 



