PRUNING 219 



large in size and the trees, of course, are less vigorous than 

 younger ones, so that everything possible has to be done to 

 facilitate the healing process. In particular, no stubs should 

 be left and the painting or tarring of the wounds should be 

 very carefully attended to. Even with the best of care these 

 large wounds are going to be a menace to the tree. The pruner 

 is fortunate also if he does not find a lot of old stubs on the 

 trees, left by former pruners, which have already started to 

 decay and have gone too far ever to be entirely recovered. It 

 is a problem to know just what to do with them. If the decay 

 has extended into the main branch it can be stopped entirely 

 only by chiselling out all of the decayed wood and filling in 

 the hole, but this is usually too costly a process to be under- 

 taken on a commercial scale in an orchard. About all that 

 one can do is to resaw the stub, dig out as much of the decayed 

 wood as can be done conveniently and quickly and then fill in 

 the cavity with cement. This is only a make-shift, and delays 

 but does not stop the decay. It merely keeps out the water and 

 air, rendering the conditions less favorable for the organisms 

 causing the decay. 



In most cases of renovation work it is best, at the start, to 

 save all the water-sprouts in the tree. This becomes increasingly 

 important as the pruning is more severe. Where trees are de- 

 horned every sprout should be carefully preserved, and unless 

 the pruning is relatively light (what we have called "normal 

 pruning") there will be few of these sprouts that can be spared 

 to advantage. The second year a large number of them may be 

 removed, but not in the beginning, for the tree will need all 

 the leaf-surface possible to take care of the relatively large 

 amount of plant food that will be sent up by the roots. It 

 will be a revelation to those who have never had experience in 

 this work to see the luxuriant growth which these old trees 

 will develop even during this first season (Figs. 96, 98 and 102). 



This is about all that need be said in regard to the pruning 

 proper. There may be parts of the remaining top that will 

 need some thinning, but frequently not, and in any case it is 

 a relatively unimportant part of the work. 



