MASSACHUSETTS APl'J-E INDUSTRY, 



23 



The pruning methods chosen were as follows: — 



1. The whips to be cut back at planting and the new growth cut back 

 about one-half, the cutting back to be less severe in succeeding years. 

 The.y were to be thinned out each year the same as the other types of 

 pruning. The purpose was to produce a globular shaped tree, headed back 

 annualh'. 



2. Trees to be cut back at planting as in 1, and to be thinned out the 

 same but not headed back. The purpose was to produce a globular head- 

 ed tree not cut back. 



3. The trees to grow without any pruning whatever except the removal 

 of suckers and water sprouts. 



4. The trees to be set without cutting back and the leader allowed to 

 grow to a height of 7 to 8 feet and then suppressed if necessary. They 

 vvere to be thinned out annually the same as the other types of pruning. 

 The purpose was to produce a modified leader tree. 



0. The trees to be set without cutting back, but to have all shoots 

 except the leader headed back in later years, but a little less severely than 

 the cut-back globular trees. The purpose was to produce a central leader 

 tree. 



6. The trees to be pruned as in 5, but without cutting back. The pur- 

 pose was to produce a central leader tree without cutting back. 



All trees except the unpruned were to be thinned out to about the same 

 density, and two of the lots were to have the new growth cut back each 

 year. 



These five types of pruning were expected to produce, more or less 

 successfully, three types of trees: — the globular headed tree generally pre- 

 ferred in Massachusetts, the modified leader type, and the central leader 

 type. In 1922 when the type of tree was pretty well fixed, an estimate of 

 the degree of success reached in securing these types was made, and the 

 results are shown in Table 1. 



Table 1. Degree of success in attaining the expected type of tree. 

 (Number of trees) 



Failure 



Rather Un- 

 successful 



F"airly 

 Successful 



Successful 



Highly 

 Successful 



Globular cut back. . . . 

 Globular not cut back. 



Modified leader 



Central leader cut back 

 Central leader not cut . 

 back 



() 







U 



16 



24 











4 



14 



23 



5 



6 



17 



19 



26 



26 

 29 

 .32 

 19 



17 



68 

 64 

 4.5 

 29 

 10 



This classification is, of course, wholl.v arbitrary and another observer 

 might have classified them somewhat differently. Certain generalizations 

 may, however, be quite safely made. It is evident that the globular headed 

 tree may be more certainly secured than the central leader type and that 

 cutting back the branches helps to produce a leader tree. The trees classed 

 as failures were well formed trees and not by any means failures as 

 orchard trees, but they did not have in any degree a dominant central 

 leader. There was some difference in the five varieties used. Spy and 

 Mcintosh were rather more tractable than the other varieties, partly owing 



