PRUNING 89 



velops a very large bearing surface, but un- 

 fortunately trees of this type are expensive to 

 maintain. We once leased an old orchard 

 which had several of these sky-scrapers in it. 

 I ache now when I think of spraying those old 

 trees with a sixteen-foot extension rod — and 

 then missing most of the tops. When we came 

 to harvest the fruit I estimated that it cost us 

 a dollar and twenty cents per bushel to gather 

 those apples. After I made the estimate we 

 shook off what apples remained unpicked and 

 made cider. (This of course should be dated 

 B. V. — before Volstead.) 



The open top form of trees provides a rea- 

 sonable fruiting surface with a shape requiring 

 the minimum of expense to maintain. Orchard 

 trees of to-day resemble nothing so much as big 

 bushes, easy to spray, easy to prune, easy to 

 harvest. They represent the sensible shape for 

 a fruit tree. To develop such a tree the grower 

 must discourage any tendency toward the for- 

 mation of a central stem at the earliest possi- 

 ble moment. While leader trees may be con- 

 verted to open topped trees even fairly late in 

 life they never are quite what they should be. 

 If you can catch a Chinaman when he is a 

 youngster you may convert him into a practical, 

 working Christian, but I doubt if any old China- 

 man is ever quite happy with a Bible. 



In developing the open top form of tree we 



