1444 



PRUNING 



PRUNING 



best results will be secured, since the new growths will 

 then develop flower-buds for the year following. It may 

 be advisable, however, to prune such plants in win- 

 ter for the purpose of thinning them, thereby allowing 

 the flower-buds which remain to produce larger bloom. 



1970. Apple tree trained on an espalier. 



In most ornamental plants, however, it is the number 

 of flowers rather than the size of each which is desired. 



Plants that bloom late in the season, like hydrangea 

 and most species of clematis, make their flower-buds 

 on shoots which arise that very season. With such 

 plants, it is well to prune rather heavily while they are 

 dormant in order to cause them to throw up a profusion 

 of strong shoots in the spring. These shoots will bear 

 that summer. Lists of plants in these two categories 

 will be found in the appendix to the second edition of 

 "The Pruning-Book." 



Pruning to make the plant assume some definite form 

 is essentially a method of shearing or heading-in. 

 If it is desired to have a very regular and definite 

 shape, it is well to shear the plant at least two or 

 three times a year in order to keep down the ex- 

 uberant growths. It is a common practice to shear 

 the plants only in the winter, but if this shearing 

 is somewhat violent, as is usually the case, the 

 plant throws up numerous strong shoots very early 

 in spring and it remains shapeless during a large 

 part of the growing season. 



Training. There is relatively little careful 

 training of plants in North America, largely be- 

 cause of the expense of the skilled labor which is 

 necessary to perform it. Land is also relatively 

 cheap, and room can be given for the natural de- 

 velopment of most plants. In the Old World, fruit 

 plants must be grown in very small areas, and it 

 may be necessary to train them on walls, sides of 

 buildings, or on trellises of various kinds. Trained 

 fruit trees may generally be referred to one of 

 three categories: the wall tree, which is trained 

 against a continuous surface; the espalier, which 

 is trained on a trellis, the branches starting at 

 nearly right angles from a central shaft; the cor- 

 don, or training to a single or double strand near 

 the ground. Properly, an espalier is a trellis; but 

 the word is commonly used for the plant that is 

 trained on the trellis. There are many variations 



in the methods of training and pruning in each of these 

 three classes, and the methods are such as can scarcely 

 be well elucidated in writing. The Old World literature 

 is replete with instructions. In recent American litera- 

 ture, the fullest account is to be found in "The Pruning- 

 Book." In order that trees maybe well trained on walls, 

 espaliers and cordons, it is necessary that the training 

 be begun in the nursery. The Old World nurseries 

 grow plants which are trained for various uses, but the 

 American nurseries do not. If, therefore, the American 

 is to train trees in any of these formal shapes, he should 

 secure specimens that are not more than one year from 

 the bud or graft, and begin the training himself. The 

 illustrations (Figs. 1969-71) suggest some of the special 

 methods of training fruit trees. 



When to Prune. It will be gleaned from the above 

 remarks that the time of pruning depends on many 

 circumstances, and chiefly on the result which it is de- 

 sired to reach. So far as the healing of the wound is con- 

 cerned, it is usually best to prune when the vegetative 

 activities begin in spring so that the wound is quickly 

 covered or headed." For the purpose of checking growth 

 and producing other definite results, it may be neces- 

 sary to prune at other times of the year. As a general 

 rule, however, the best time to prune is in late winter 

 and early spring, when labor can be had and before the 

 rush of spring work comes on. The colder and drier the 

 winter climate, the later the pruning should be delayed. 



The wound made by severing a branch heals by means 

 of a callus which forms from the growing tissue between 

 the bark and wood. Fig. 1972. This tissue rolls over 

 the wound, finally joining in the center and completely 

 covering the old wood. The old wood itself takes no 

 part in the healing process; in fact, it dies. When the 

 healing is complete, the old wood is merely covered and 

 preserved from external injury and infection, much as 

 fruit in a jar is preserved by being protected with a 

 cover. There is no dressing that will hasten the heal- 

 ing process except as it keeps the wood from decay. In 

 other words, the whole object of dressing a wound is to 

 protect it. The dressing prevents bacteria and fungi 

 from securing a foothold and thereby prevents the rot. 

 Wounds that are exposed for some years nearly always 

 become unsound at the center because of the intrusion 

 of these organisms, and even if the wounds should sub- 

 sequently heal over, the infection may still extend down 

 the heart of the tree and finally cause its death. The 

 best covering for a wound is one that protects it best 

 from microbes and fungi and which persists the long- 

 est. Ordinarily, good white lead paint, applied heavily 

 and renewed occasionally, is the best protection. Graft- 

 ing wax may afford a good protection, if it is applied 

 hot so that it soaks into the tissue. If it is merely 

 spread over the surface, it soon blisters, and become? 

 loose and affords relatively little protection. 



1971. Pear trees trained on a wall. 



When once the wall is covered, the tree is never allowed to in- 

 crease in surface area. It is cut back to spurs each year, much as 

 grape-vines may be treated. 



