30 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



exactly the varieties which you are now growing, you run some risk 

 of mistake in ordering by name, but if you make some root-grafts 

 by taking a piece of the smaller roots of the tree, which you can 

 dig out, say about the size of a pencil, and graft scions upon them, 

 you can secure root-grafts for planting in nursery this year and in 

 that way be sure to have trees of exactly the same kind. Root- 

 grafts can be made in the winter, placed in sand which is kept moist 

 and not wet, planted out as soon as the ground warms up, and you 

 will get immediate and very satisfactory growth in that way. 



Pruning Old Apple Trees. 



/ haz'e an old orchard containing some apple trees about 40 years 

 old — trees zvell shaped hut with plenty of main branches and limbs all 

 very long. The trees bear profusely in alternate years hut the fruit is 

 small. In pruning zvould you advise cutting out some main limbs where 

 there are over three or four and thus making a big wood reduction 

 (zvhere sunburn protection can still be guarded) or zvould you only 

 shorten in the branches and thin the fruit severely? 



. Do not remove main branches unless they are clearly too numer- 

 ous or have been allowed to grow to interference with each other or 

 have become weakened or feeble in some way. In such cases the space 

 is worth more than the branch. If the tree has a fair framework do 

 not disturb it in order to get down to an arbitrary limit of three or 

 four main branches; sometimes the tree can carry more. If the tree 

 is too thick, thin it out by removing side branches of more or less 

 size — saving the best, judging by both vigor and position. Work 

 through the whole top in this way until you reach the best judgment 

 you can form of enough space and light for good interior foliage and 

 fruit. Apple branches should seldom be shortened, and when this 

 seems desirable, cut to a side branch and not to a stub which will 

 make a lot of weak shoots or brush in the top of the tree. 



Pruning Apple Trees. 



There is a great difference of opinion here regarding the pruning of 

 three-year or older apple trees. Many people cut back three, four and 

 five-year-old trees half the season's growth; others only cut back six 

 inches. 



Apple trees are cut back during their early life to cause branch- 

 ing and to secure short distances between the larger laterals on the 

 main branches. This secures a lower, stronger tree. Cutting back 

 twice or three times should secure a good framework of this kind, 

 and then the apple should not be regularly and systematically cut 

 back as the peach and apricot are. It is not possible to prescribe 

 definite inches, because cutting back is a matter of judgment and de- 

 pends upon how thick the growth is, what its position and relation 

 to other shoots, etc. The chief point in cutting back is to know 

 where you wish the next laterals to come on the shortened shoot, and 

 if you do not wish more laterals at once, do not cut back at all. 



