PRUNING. 33 



These two peach trees are of the same age, were grown in the 

 same soil, and received the same treatment; but one, as you see, is 

 three times as heavy as the other ; the difference, you notice, is 

 mainly in diameter. I think, however, that the sap vessels in the 

 heavier one are larger, for which reason it is more liable to injury 

 during winter. I believe that in three year's time the smaller one 

 will overtake the larger in both size and value. 



Here is' a peach tree from which the lower limbs have been 

 pruned off, leaving only the branches at the top. If the top is 

 left as it is, the tree will feel the wind too much, and doubtless will 

 be twisted and broken by it. Will it do to trim this peach 

 tree like an apple tree? It is better to cut off the top and all 

 the side branches, leaving only a bare stem two and one-half to 

 three feet high. 



In resetting peach trees, set them no deeper than they were in 

 the nursery, for if you do you will get the feeding roots below the 

 best soil. The roots, if left undisturbed by the plow, will come 

 very near the surface. If mulch is placed about the tree and left 

 for a year or two, the roots will be found right at the surface of 

 the soil when the mulch is removed. 



Fall planted peach trees should not be pruned until the following 

 March. I find that four branches are as many as are needed the 

 second year ; they will grow from two to three feet, and of this I 

 should cut off one-half the next spring. There is too much cut 

 wood surface exposed if pruned in the fall, and the drying winds 

 of winter will season these cut ends and kill the nearest bud in 

 most cases. 



Here is a quince tree two years old. These little limbs you see 

 upon the trunk are of no account, therefore I prune them off and 

 cut back the four largest to form a new top. 



These Sugar Maples are four years old, but are as they were 

 grown in the nursery. Two years ago they were headed back in 

 the nursery, but not moved. They now have more limbs than are 

 needed to make a proper head when reset ; some must be cut out 

 and others shortened in. If shaped and started aright now, and 

 the treatment continued for two or three years, they will never 

 need any more pruning. 



Here is another maple that was not pruned or shortened in, in 

 the nursery, as it should have been. Now I have pruned it as it 

 should be, to make a good top. It is seldom the best way to 

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