80 MANUAL OF tTENERAL AGRICULTURE. 



so that the lower portion of the branch remains bare after 

 the fruit is picked. The side branches are all grouped on 

 the upper part of the year's growth. The age of a cherry 

 tree can frequently be told by counting these groups of 

 side branches. 



Pick off a spur and notice that its growth has been 

 straight, and not zigzag, as in the pear. The central bud 

 of the cluster is a foliage bud and continues growth year 

 after year. It is more pointed than the surrounding fruit 

 buds. "What is the age of the oldest branch that you can 

 find bearing fruit spurs? 



Pruning. Only a very small amount of the fruit is 

 borne on one-year wood. It is the fruit spurs which are 

 important. With this point in mind, how would you 

 prune the cherry? 



Picking Fruits which Possess Fruit Spurs. If a spur 

 is broken off, there are no buds left to renew it. In pick- 

 ing, the fruit should be separated from the spur. Many 

 cherry trees become unproductive because the pickers 

 have broken off the clusters of cherries and thus removed 

 the spurs. 



The Grape fruit bearing habit. The grape is differ- 

 ent from both the pear and the peach. In the winter you 

 can find no fruit buds; all buds then are vegetative. In 

 the spring from each bud comes a cane which produces 

 flowers and fruit that same season. Examine a grape cane 

 and verify this. Notice that the fruit is produced usually 

 at the second, third and fourth nodes only, that is, eacli 

 bud found on the vine in winter tries to produce a cane 

 which will bear from two to three fruit clusters ; therefore 

 by limiting the number of buds which we leave on the 

 vines, we limit the number of fruit clusters which the vine 

 will produce. The maximum number of good clusters that 

 a vine will produce ranges from twenty-five to fifty. 



Pruning. The grape must be cut back every year so 

 as to have from fifteen to twenty buds only. 



Blackberries and Raspberries fruit bearing habit. 

 These produce fruit on the branches grown this season in 

 the same way as the grape. The first year a straight cane 



