292 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Pruning a Form of Training 



Young apple trees require very little 

 attention, with regard to pruning, until 

 they reach the bearing age. The treat- 

 ment should be one of training rather 

 than of correction. That is, the trees 

 should be gone over every year and en- 

 couraged to grow in the desired way. 

 Several yearly trimmings will require no 

 more time than a single pruning after a 

 lapse of three or four years. Irregular 

 pruning tends to throw the young tree out 

 of balance, for the removal of so much 

 wood in one year is always followed by 

 a rank, succulent growth the following 



->§^*3J:'^=Uzr= 



Figs. 3 and 4. A Ten-year-old Apple Tree that 

 iias not been pruned since it was planted, and 

 the same tree after pruning. Observe the 

 open center. 



season. Unless such yearly treatment can 

 be given, it is probably better to delay 

 pruning entirely till the trees reach the 

 bearing age, when the maturing of a crop 

 of fruit will offset to some extent the in- 

 vigorating effect of severe pruning. Fig. 

 3 and Fig. 4 show a tree, before and after 

 pruning, that has been treated in this way. 

 If this method is employed, and if there 

 is much wood to be removed, it would 



seem advisable to remove some of the 

 wood during the summer and the remain- 

 der in the following winter or spring. 

 Summer pruning is a devitalizing process 

 and has the opposite effect upon the tree 

 to that of winter pruning. It also tends 

 to induce fruitfulness. 



The regular annual treatment may be 

 done any time during the dormant season, 

 and the operation consists in removing 

 unnecessary growth and moderately head- 

 ing-in the stronger growing branches. 

 Much may be done in the way of direct- 

 ing the growth of the branches by cutting 

 back to a bud the points in the right di- 

 rection. If a spreading habit is desired, 

 the cut should be made about an inch 

 above one of the lower or outer buds. 

 With trees that are naturally spreading 

 in habit, on the other hand, a more up- 

 right growth may be induced by cutting 

 back to a bud on the upper or inner side 

 of a branch. Some growers rub off the 

 buds that they do not want to develop. 

 This is a doubtful practice and entirely 

 unnecessary. The important point in the 

 whole matter is the development of a 

 strong, well-balanced structure with a 

 large bearing surface. In pruning and 

 shaping the young tree the grower should 

 keep in mind the matter of convenience. 

 He should endeavor to keep the tree as 

 low as possible to facilitate the operation 

 of spraying and harvesting. There is a 

 tendency among the best growers to de- 

 velop a tree with an open space in the 

 center of the head. This is a great ad- 

 vantage in the way of admitting more air 

 and sunlight, but it is possible to carry 

 the matter to such an extent that the 

 branches of the tree may be injured by 

 exposing them to the direct rays of the 

 sun. 



C. D. Jarvis, 

 Rtorrs. Conn. 



Pruning as Adapted to Iowa 



In too many of our Iowa orchards the 

 trees are permitted to grow any shape 

 or density restricted only by the laws of 

 nature. As a rule there are too many 

 limbs, the foliage is too dense, and the 

 apples toward the center of the tree do 

 not color properly. As the tree gets larg- 



