400 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



head it. Have never less than four or 

 more than six leaders. Have the leaders 

 spaced up and down on the trunk so as 

 not to form bad crotches. Have the lead- 

 ers spaced around the tree so that no 

 leader Is directly under another, but let 

 each have a position of its own, so that 

 when you look directly down on the tree 

 the leaders look like the spokes of a 

 wheel. When the leaders have grown to 

 be about Jive and a half to six feet high 

 cut them back to about four and one-half 

 to five feet high. The next year after 

 this is done, the first series of permanent 

 fruit bearing laterals will come out with- 

 in a foot or eighteen inches of the top 

 of the leader. Select two to four of the 

 best laterals in a permanent position 

 and cut the others off. Leave some of 

 the low laterals for temporary bearing. 

 These can be cut off after they have 

 borne four or five years. The strong 

 inside shoots that come inside the tree 

 opposite the first series of permanent lat- 

 erals should be wrapped together to grow 

 into living braces where needed. Cut the 

 leader two or three feet above the first 

 series according to the variety and the 

 next year bring out a second series of 

 permanent laterals. The idea is to have 

 a permanent tree, with the fruit-bearing 

 laterals in a permanent position, thus the 

 ti'ee has the maximum amount of fruit- 

 bearing wood, a very important point for 

 the fruit growers in a country where the 

 trees bear so heavily. If this method 

 is carried out it will not be necessary to 

 cut large limbs out of the trees when they 

 get older. 



.Slimmer Pruning: 

 Tardy varieties and varieties that are 

 slow to come into bearing should be sum- 

 mer pruned. The principal varieties in 

 our district which require summer prun- 

 ing are Spitzenburgs, Yellow Newtowns, 

 Arkansas Blacks. Delicious and Stayman 

 Winesaps. Most of the summer pruning 

 is done when the trees are from three 

 to seven years old, and is continued long- 

 er if necessary. The summer pruning 

 should be done when the terminal buds 

 swell. This varies with the varieties from 

 the 20th of July to the last of August. At 



summer pruning time four things should 

 be done. 



First: Make the cross ties or living 

 braces if the tree is the right age, and 

 the braces are necessary. 



Second: Give the tree a normal thin- 

 ning out or pruning. 



Third: Make all the fruit spurs pos- 

 sible by forcing all the fruit spurs that 

 have grown into shoots (leaving a cluster 

 of leaves where the little shoot grew out) ; 

 and all small whip growth in the bearing 

 area of the tree, back into fruit spurs. 

 Cut the fruit spurs that have grown on 

 into shoots back just beyond the leaf 

 cluster, leaving the leaf cluster to form 

 the spur. Cut the little shoots that have 

 no leaf clusters back to about four or five 

 inches in length. About 75 per cent of 

 these cuts will change back into fruit 

 spurs the first year; those that do not 

 should be cut again. 



Fourth: Cut out the water suckers. 



Proper summer pruning does not in- 

 jure the tree. But by this one should 

 direct some of the energy from growing 

 into bearing. There is, however, much 

 damage done by unwise and improper 

 summer pruning. Unless the summer 

 pruning is very accurately done and at 

 the right time it is better not to attempt 

 it at all. But when properly done the 

 yield of some varieties may be doubled 

 the first five years of bearing, and a 

 better bearing habit for the future be 

 given them. 



Irrigating: Young Trees 



Too many growers irrigate young trees 

 in the same manner as old bearing trees; 

 they delay the early irrigations more or 

 less and irrigate heavily later on. This 

 is alright with old trees that have many 

 roots and a large amount of moist soil 

 to draw from; with the young trees, 

 especially the newly planted tree, the 

 roots are in contact with a very small 

 quantity of soil. For this reason the 

 ground should be irrigated often. Give 

 the heavy irrigations early and frequent- 

 ly so that the young trees will get a 

 quick early start. Cut the water down 

 early enough in the fall so that they will 



