47 



IV. From Professor C. I. Lewis, Oregon Agricultural 

 College, dated Dec. 17th, 1912: — "I believe with trees thre<i 

 to ten years old summer pruning, if properly done, will have 

 a very good influence in keeping up certain characteristics 

 and tend to bring the trees into bearing earlier. Certain 

 trees like the Northern Spy, have been materially benefitte<i. 

 r have seen indications all over the coast of its being a hin- 

 derance. In some cases the work has been overdone and I 

 feel that the trees have been damaged. The tendency in 

 mature and bearing trees is to overdo. I have seen men cut 

 off branches six inches in diameter. I have watched a num- 

 ber of orchards, two or three years old, and I fail to see any 

 benefit from such work, in fact the effect if anything, was 

 injurious to the trees. 



"Of course summer pruning can be done in two ways. 

 One is to help shape the tree, correct the habit of growth and 

 perhaps time can be gained in that way, and this type can 

 be done any time you desire. I believe, however, it should 

 be done moderately and that one should work with the idea 

 of avoiding undesirable growth and development by early 

 pinching and moderate cutting. I believe in doing consid- 

 erable work of this kind with trees from three years up and 

 perhaps two year old trees. 



"The second type of summer pruning is to induce fruit- 

 fulness. There is no doubt but what you can increase the 

 accumulation of tissues around the buds and around the 

 branches by summer pruning, but whether this will result 

 in more fruitfulness and stronger growth, is still an open 

 question. Probably it would, like everything else, be in- 

 fluenced by the general treatment of the soil, the drainage 

 it is getting, any artificial stimulation it is receiving, etc. 

 This second pruning for fruit has to be done when the trees 

 are just in the right condition of activity. If the trees are 

 growing too strongly the results are not secured." 

 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 



I believe that with young trees we should do very little 

 winter pruning and that we should direct the growth largely 



