PRUNING 



79 



change has been coincident with a similar change in 

 policy favorable to the cultivation of orchards. One 

 of the old arguments against low-headed trees was 

 that the low heads interfered with cultivation. The 

 simple fact now is that cultivation is more common than 



it used to be, and a great _ 



deal more thorough, while 

 at the same time modern 

 orchards are trained with 

 much shorter trunks than 

 those of a decade ago. 

 Indeed the most ardent 

 advocates of low-headed 

 trees are, in the majority 

 of cases, the very men 

 who also practice the 

 most thorough systems of 

 cultivation. 



Low heads undoubted- 

 ly have many advantages. 

 The trees are stronger 

 and less likely to blow 

 over. This is most con- 

 spicuously the case dur- 

 ing the first few years of 

 growth. A young tree 

 with a bushy top on a 

 trunk 8 feet long is pecul- 

 iarly vulnerable to wind 

 and ice storms. It is also 



SUTTON BEAUTY 



Headed too high 



subject to many other attacks from which the low- 

 headed tree is comparatively safe. Sun-scald is 

 always much worse on long trunks than on short 

 ones. In fact, nearly all the disorders to which 



