FRUITS 



223 



three to five side branches already selected for growth should 

 be cut back until only about eight to twelve inches of their 

 new growth is left (Fig. 151). At the end of each year the 

 new peach twigs, if they have made much growth, will 

 need to be cut back to about half their length. Every 

 winter cut out from any kind of fruit tree all the branches 

 that are partly broken, too close together, or growing across 

 the center of the tree, and all twigs that are diseased. 



The later pruning of trees is chiefly (i) to regulate the 

 shape, (2) to make the center of 

 the tree open enough to admit the 

 light, and (3) to thin the fruit. 

 Wherever a branch is removed, 

 the cut surface must be left smooth 

 and as close to the parent branch 

 as possible. No projection or stub 

 must be left. A smooth, close 

 wound is soon healed and covered 

 over ; but a stub is not easily 

 covered, and decay starts in such 

 a wound (Fig. 152). When a large 

 branch is cut off, the wound should 

 be covered with thick white lead 

 paint, to keep the germs of decay 

 from getting into the tree. 



In pruning a fruit tree the bud left farthest out on the 

 branch is the one that will grow most rapidly and become 

 the leader. The limbs can be made to bend downward more 

 than they naturally would by making the cut just beyond a 

 bud which points downward. Likewise the growth can be 



FIG. 152. POOR PRUNING 



