Forming and Pruning Young Apple Trees 



THE general characteristics of well- 

 shaped apple trees are somewhat 

 as follows: "The main branches 

 spring from the trunk at a good broad 

 angle. They do not spring opposite to 

 each other, but are distributed up and 

 down the trunk. They are evenly placed 

 around the tree, and do not interfere 

 with each other. There is a definite cen- 

 tre stem from which they spring, and 

 which extends above the main side 

 branches." 



Such a tree is of the strongest possible 

 frame. It will carry its proper load of 

 fruit without propping. There is no fear 

 of it being split down to the ground, and 

 ruined by an over-weight of fruit, or by 

 wet snow, or any other cause. The 

 greatest damage, that will be likely to 

 happen to it, will be the breaking of a 

 bough, an injury which can easily be re- 

 paired, and the loss replaced within a 

 short time. If any main branch is over- 

 laden and breaks off, the injury to the 

 trunk^ will be comparatively slight, there 

 will be no splitting. Always fresh 

 shoots can be grown from the centre to 

 replace broken branches. After all, the 

 main stem i.s the tree, keep that intact, 

 and the tree is still there from which to 

 grow any branches that are required. 



To illustrate the advantages of this 

 form it is only necessary to think of an- 

 other form which is very common ; that 

 is, the tree, where the centre has been 

 cut out and never replaced, where the 

 branches all spring from about the same 

 point as the fingers grow from the palm 

 of the hand. Such a tree, when the day 

 of trial comes, either from an overload 

 of fruit, or from a fall of we^ snow, and, 

 sometimes, by reason of its own weight, 

 will get tired and lie down, splitting 

 right to the ground, so that there is noth- 

 ing left from which a new tree can be 

 grown. 



TO FORM THE TREES 



Shaping a tree is not the whole art of 

 pruning. By shaping a tree is meant that 

 treatment of a tree in its earlier years 

 which definitely determines its general 

 form. A tree may be well shaped in this 

 sense, yet at the time woefully in need of 

 cutting and clearing out, but this latter 

 branch of the pruner's art will not be 

 dealt with in this paper. The object of 

 this paper then is to outline a method, 

 and to state a few short rules, which, if 

 followed, will ensure every tree growing 

 up in a correct form. The rules are 

 three in number, viz. : i . Keep the leader ; 

 2. have but one leader; and, 3, make the 

 leader lead. The' explanation of these, 

 and the method of carrying them out in 

 practice, is as follows : 



'Extracts from a paper read at last convention of the 

 XorthweKt Fruit Growers' Association. 



T. W. Stirling, Kelowna, British Columbia 



The tree is planted as a yearling, whip 

 and cut back to about three feet, or a 

 little less, from the ground, with the ob- 

 ject of forcing buds into decided growth, 

 so that there may be something to work 

 on the next spring. The first real step 

 towards shaping the tree is taken the 

 spring after planting, preferably when 

 the buds are just beginning to show 

 green. It will be found then, if the 

 tree has established itself, that some of 

 the buds near the top, very generally 

 three, have made a strong upstanding 

 growth, coming out from the stem at a 

 very acute angle; lower down, more 

 shoots will have grown from the stem 



right than three wrong — plenty more 

 shoots will grow during the current year 

 to fill any vacancies. 



(Note.— Certain varieties of trees, for 

 instance, the Northern Spy, have shoots 

 which almost invariably spring from the 

 stem at an acute angle. In such cases 

 it cannot be expected that shoots will be 

 found to satisfy the third condition men- 

 tioned above. It is as well then to use a 

 spreader to cause the shoot to grow in 

 the desired direction.) 



CUTTING BACK 



Having selected the shoots which are 

 to remain, and removed the others, cut- 

 ting them off close up to the stem, it 



Method of Setting out Fruit Trees in an Orchard 



i? is a base line laid down through the middle of the orchard, on which are marked positions of one line of 

 trees, say, 24 feet apart. A and C are parallel lines so placed with respect to li that 1—3 and 2—3 are each equal 

 to 1—2, the distance apart the trees are to be. Positions of trees on Ji may be laid down when point 3 i« flxeil. 

 All other trees are sighted in place from the positions on lines A^ B and C. 



at a greater angle than the leaders, and 

 usually have not made such a strong 

 growth. It is from these latter that the 

 first tier of branches may be chosen. 



LEADERS 



Of the one, two or three strong up- 

 right shoots near the top, select the best 

 and most upright as the leader, and sac- 

 rifice the remainder. If they are retained 

 with the idea that they will become sat- 

 isfactory side branches, amenable to dis- 

 cipline, it will be found to be a mis- 

 take. They will not do so, but will for 

 years be a source of bother, competing 

 continually with the leader for suprem- 

 acy. Cut them out, leaving but the one 

 leader. 



SIDE SHOOTS 



From the other shoots, lower down, 

 select, if possible, three side branches. 

 These must be evenly distributed around 

 the tree in a horizontal direction. In a 

 perpendicular direction they must be well 

 separated. The angle they make with 

 the trunk should be large, nearly a right 

 angle. If there are not three shoots 

 that satisfy these conditions, then leave 

 only two, or one, that does — better one 



is necessary to cut them back. It will be 

 observed that the buds on the upper 

 end of a wood shoot are better developed 

 than those near the base. The object in 

 view is to give the leader the start, and 

 to have it keep ahead of the rest ; there- 

 fore, do not cut it back too much. Cut 

 it amongst these buds towards the upper 

 end, perhaps one-third of its length down 

 from the tip. 



Perhaps, amongst the side branches re- 

 tained, one or two are weak, and one 

 or two are strong — these latter nearly as 

 strong as the leader. It is they which 

 require to be watched, or they will start 

 racing for the supremacy with the leader. 

 Put them in their right place right away. 

 Cut them back to within three buds or 

 so of the stem. The buds here will be 

 very much backward, and by the time 

 they are forced into growth, the leader 

 will have shoots several inches in length, 

 and there is no fear that the side branch- 

 es will catch up. 



An excellent article on "Irrigation in 

 British Columbia,' 'will appear in the 

 June issue of The Canadian Horticijl- 



TURIST. 



