274 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICrLTURE 



therefore, less exposed surface that is 

 subject to disease, injuries by accident, 

 etc. 



2. There is less energy required to car- 

 ry food from the root system to the top 

 and from the top system to the root, and 

 as the railroad man would say, there is 

 less expense and less friction in the 

 shorter haul. The trunk of a tree is a 

 circulatory system, a kind of common 

 carrier that exchanges the products of 

 one part of the tree for the products of 

 another. 



3. There is no extra sap required for 

 the support of a longer body, and there- 

 fore the extra energy that would be re- 

 quired to support the extra length of 

 body goes into the branches. 



4. It Is easier to pick the fruit from a 

 tree with a low top than from one that 

 is higher in the air. It is easier to prune 

 and to spray. When the fruit falls from 

 the top of a low tree it is less likel.v to 

 damage and bruise in falling, and there- 

 fore there is less waste. Our observa- 

 tions lead us to the conclusion that the 

 trees are almost always healthier, and 



this is shown in the fact that they grow 

 more vi.gorously and produce more fruit. 



5. There is another reason in favor of 

 low heading that is worthy of considera- 

 tion, and that is, that trees are bent by 

 force of the wind currents and the taller 

 trees bend more than the lower ones. 

 Often great dama.ge is done in this way. 

 especially to trees that are heavily loaded 

 with fruit so that the center of gravity 

 is beyond the base. Trees are sometimes 

 broken in this way. Much less damage 

 is done from this cause to trees with low 

 tops. 



There are advantages on the other side, 

 for experience teaches us that it is more 

 difficult to cultivate among trees that 

 have been headed low, but this can be 

 largely obviated if care is taken in shap- 

 ing the tops and in the choice of tools 

 for cultivation. In orchards that have 

 been pruned with this in mind, it is about 

 as easy to cultivate around trees that 

 are headed just above the ground as 

 around others that are headed eighteen 

 inches higher. 



Of course there is a difference in the 



Fig. 2. Orrhard near Kenuewick, Wash. Peaches in the Foreground. In wind.v sections trees 

 do much hetter if lieaded close to the srouud. 



