PRUNING CITRUS TREES. 389 



The problem is how to handle the new growth on the 

 tips of these branches. In solving this problem we should 

 keep in mind the objects in view, which are: to make 

 the tree stocky, and at the same time to keep it from get- 

 ting too dense. The pruning should be confined entirely 

 to an effort to control the growth of the skeleton of the 

 tree, letting nature take care of the fruit-spurs with which 

 this skeleton is clothed. 



The terminal shoots or leaders of the tree should be 

 left alone until they have grown to be several feet in 

 length and from one quarter to one half inch in diame- 

 ter. They should then be cut back, leaving from six to ten 

 inches from the last pruning. In cutting back a vertical 

 leader, cut to a bud that points out, away from the tree; 

 horizontal leaders should be cut to a bud that points up. 

 By persevering in this practice the limbs can be trained 

 out, then up, then out again; they will be angular and 

 crooked, which is conducive to fruitfulness. Their angl- 

 ing direction will help to brace them against the ever- 

 growing leverage of their fruit and foliage, so that, while 

 they may in time be bent down to the horizontal, they 

 will never droop and rest upon the ground. 



After each cutting back these leaders should be left 

 alone and nature given full sway; and this is what will 

 happen : Five or six buds nearest the cut will be excited 

 into growth. Then will ensue a struggle to see which of 

 these buds will get the most sap. The terminal bud is 

 sure to get its share', and become a strong, sucker-like 

 shoot. Probably one or two others will secure enough 

 nutriment to become suckers likewise. The rest of the 

 buds will have to give up their ambition to shine, and 

 will settle down to the domestic role of bearing lemons, 

 and thus perpetuating their species. These are the shoots 



