CHAPTER VIII 



Dwarf Fruit Trees 



General Rules for Pruning and Training Blossom Bud- 

 Bearing Habits Types of Training for Various Fruit 

 Trees Espaliers and Cordons 



FRUIT trees may be kept dwarf in habit by pruning their branches 

 to prevent the tops from growing to normal size, by restricting the 



spread of the roots either by root pruning or by growing them 

 in tubs or flower pots, thus reducing the amount of available food and 

 thereby reducing the size of the specimens, or they may be grown upon 

 stocks of smaller growing trees or bushes which have a checking in- 

 fluence upon the trunks and branches. The last practice is in America 

 the most common; it produces the "dwarf trees" sold by nurserymen- 



The place for dwarf trees is in the family plantation where avail- 

 able space is too small to permit the growing of standard trees. On 

 private, estates where beauty of tree as well as fruit add to the pleasure 

 of growing them, they also have a place. Besides the great advantage 

 of their small size (Fig. 59) which thus permits of many varieties 

 being grown in the same space that one standard tree would occupy, 

 and also permit of being easily pruned, sprayed, and otherwise handled, 

 dwarf trees begin to bear long before standards would normally start 

 often the second year after being planted. It is not necessarily true, 

 however, that fruit produced by dwarf trees is of better quality than 

 that produced by the same variety of standard tree, though this is a 

 fact in the case of certain varieties. Tests conducted by the New 

 York State Experiment Station at Geneva have proved that usually 

 the specimens of Apple varieties grown as standards are better than 

 those grown upon dwarf trees. With Pears the same observation 

 holds good. 



It is well to know the disadvantages of growing dwarf trees so that 

 where space is not at a premium standards may be given the prefer- 

 ence. Usually dwarfs are shorter lived than standards. They demand 

 more attention as to pruning, fertilizing and cultivating than do 

 standards in proportion to the amount of fruit they produce. Because 

 propagation in the nursery demands more skill they cost considerably 

 more than standards. Finally, comparatively few nurserymen who 

 carry dwarf stock at all offer much selection as to varieties or devote the 

 requisite attention to proper stocks upon which to bud or graft 

 desired varieties, so that the trees they offer are not of as high quality 

 as the standard trees of the same varieties they offer for sale. 



75 



