Fruit Growing 35 



ingf Should heavy grozving apricots he summer pruned? Would it be 

 all right to tJiin out a dense growth of ivood in the prune trees in Sep- 

 tember? 



It is always desirable to cut below a hollow in a limb if possible. 

 Where, however, this would necessitate cutting below the desirable 

 laterals, the cavitj' may be filled with cement and thus rendered ser- 

 viceable for some years. Summer pruning of the apricot is desirable 

 if the growth is heavy and the tree has reached a bearing age. Thin- 

 ning out of prune trees can be undertaken in the autumn, providing 

 the tree has practically finished its growth, as indicated by the change 

 in the color and pose of the leaves. 



Apricot Propagation. 



Can Royal apricots be grafted into seedling apricots? Do the scions 

 do well? What is the best time to graft them? 



The apricot is grafted readily by the ordinary cleft grafting, 

 amputating above the forks if the tree is low-headed enough to allow 

 you to work into the limbs instead of the trunk. Grafts will take all 

 right in the trunk by bark grafting, but working in smaller limbs makes 

 a stronger tree. This is for old trees and the grafting is done during 

 the winter. Younger seedlings can be cleft or whip grafted in the 

 stems, but it is better to bud into the young seedlings with plump 

 buds of the current year's growth, in June, and by shortening in the 

 seedling above the buds as soon as they have taken, get a growth 

 on the bud in the latter half of the same growing season. In nursery 

 practice, trees are usually made by budding in July or August into 

 seedlings which are then growing from the seed planted the previous 

 winter. Little seedlings from under old trees may be carefully trans- 

 planted to nursery rows in the spring and budded the same summer. 

 Cultivated well and irrigated if necessary, they will not suffer from this 

 transplanting. 



Renewing Old Apricots, 



Shall I prune back heavily a 15 to 20-year-old apricot tree ivhich did 

 not mature its fruit this season, I think on account of neglect? It zvas 

 very poorly cultivated and not irrigated, consequently looks very sick. 



Cut back all the main branches to six or eight feet from the 

 ground, leaving on whatever small growth there may be below that 

 height. Paint the stubs and thin out the shoots next summer to get 

 the right number of new branches properly distributed. Whether you 

 will get a good renewal of the head depends upon whether the sick- 

 ness is in the root or not. Cut back just before the buds swell toward 

 the end of the dormant season. 



Summer Pruning of Apricots. 



Is it feasible to prune Hvc-ycar-old apricot trees in August? They 

 seem in good growth and have been irrigated three times this scasoti, 

 though they have never been pruned very closely. 



