288 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



broken by overbearing or for other rea- 

 sons. 



The opening up of a head of a tree 

 which has been allowed to become crowd- 

 ed, is very apt to be followed by sun- 

 scalding on portions of limbs previously 

 shaded. This is serious in itself, and 

 suggests that the best pruning is that 

 which is avoided by careful attention to 

 disbudding, the removal of limbs when 

 they can be rubbed off or cut out with 

 a pocket knife, and so training the head 

 at the start that the removal of large 

 limbs on bearing trees will be unneces- 

 sary. Pruning should be directive rather 

 than corrective. The grower should have 

 a distinct ideal in his mind at the start 

 of what form of top he desires, and that 

 ideal should be based on the necessities 

 of the climate and the experience of suc- 

 cessful local orchardists, or on experi- 

 mental studies. One from another local- 

 ity, who purchases an orchard in a region 

 where conditions are new, should not has- 

 tily undertake the remodeling of the or- 

 chard to conform to ideals of the region 

 from which he came. When the removal 

 of large limbs is unavoidable, or desir- 

 able, then it should be done in the best 

 manner and at a time when the risk of 



subsequent mischief will be the least. 

 Many of our growers select the season 

 when the trees are just starting into 

 growth, continuing the work till June. I 

 believe a more favorable time for the 

 work would be January and February. 



I have seen trees pruned in April with 

 no serious results. The cuts were made 

 right, and scars one and one-half inches 

 were almost half covered in a year. These 

 trees were growing in good soil and were 

 in a very vigorous condition. 



Again I have seen .severe bleeding fol- 

 low June pruning of the Ben Davis. These 

 were bearing trees. Limbs in the same 

 orchard cut earlier were not followed by 

 this effect. In both cases, however, 

 stumps were left from three-quarters inch 

 to one and one-half inches long. This 

 ma.v have been partially responsible for 

 the bad effects in the latter pruning. 



In another large orchard examined where 

 the practice is to do the pruning in Jan- 

 uary and February, and cut the limljs 

 close to the parent branch, evil conse- 

 quences following pruning are unknown, 

 and wounds heal over nicely in a year or 

 two. 



Pruning earlier in the season does not 

 remove all iiossibility of injury, but ob- 



Fig. 1. A and B Indicate Inipii'i'ii (ins White lines .show where cuts should have hern uiiid-' 

 C shows properl.v made cut which has healed over. — I'nrdne Station. 



