76 



POMOLOGY 



70. Shape or form of the tree. — The general shape or 

 form of a tree is hirgely a varietal character and is not easily 

 changed. A tree upright in habit of growth, such as the 

 Wealthy or Sutton apple, cannot be made to develop into a 

 strictly spreading type by any system of pruning. Likewise 

 a tree of a spreading habit, such as the Rhode Island Green- 

 ing, or one drooping as the Wolf River, cannot profitably be 

 changed into an upright growing one by pruning or training. 

 It is true, however, that they can be modified to some degree 



Fig. 23. — Diagrammatic representation of arrangement of scaffold 

 limbs in pruning. 



by pruning. These forms or shapes of trees are of some 

 taxonomic value and in many cases afford a ready means of 

 recognizing a variety. 



71. The type of tree to be developed refers directly to 

 the placing and spacing of the scaffold limbs on the body 

 and not to the general shape, although the two are inter- 

 related. There are several forms into which a tree may be 

 trained, although the type to be adopted will often depend 

 on the variety. 



