FRUIT NOTES 

 December 1952 - January 1953 



,ie apologize for combining the December and January issues of FRUIT NOTES, 

 but frankly there were just too many things to be done and too few of us on the 

 job to keep ahead of the situation. Consequently something had to be delayed. 

 ¥e hope you will understand. 



— A. P. French 



LOVffiRING TOPS IHE "ALLEN" WAY 



Judging by the crowd that attended the pruning demonstration at Bill ferman's 

 last month, there is great interest in methods of lowering the tops of mature apple 

 trees. Sherman Allen of Fair Haven, Vermont put on an excellent demonstration of 

 his system which is recorded for you in the four pictures on the adjacent page. 



Pictures 1, 2, and 3 were taken from the same spot so that by comparing No. 1 

 with No. 3 you can see how the tree appeared just before the first cut was made and 

 the same tree after the job was finished. Picture h was taken from the barn side 

 of the tree and close-up to give a better idea of the detail of the finished job. 

 As we understand it, the stubs which are a part of the system were left for the 

 purpose of providing water sprouts next summer to shade those exposed large limbs. 

 According to Mr. Allen, these stubs can be removed later if it is desired. 



Having seen only one demonstration and no trees previously pruned by this 

 method, it is not possible to evaluate the system properly. Nevertheless, there 

 are several points worthy of comment: 



1. Heading back of tall trees appears to be desirable to get better pest 

 control where an air blast sprayer is used and to reduce the cost of harvesting. 



2. One must expect a material reduction iji yield for the next few years where 

 such pruning is done, 



3. Subzero winter temperatures will likely cause more injury on trees so 

 pruned. 



U. Stubs like these will doubtless start heart rot if left very many years. 



5. Some killing of bark on exposed limbs in the top of the tree is to be 

 expected. 



6. If such lowering of the tops was practiced on crovided trees, little, if 

 any, fruiting wood would be left. 



7. At best, such pruning should be considered only as a temporary way of 

 handling an old orchard, while a young orchard is being developed to replace it 

 in ten years or so. 



Why did this tree grow so tall ? The orchard appears to have been planted 

 during the period when it was thought that the way to get a low tree was to head 



