WINTER INJURY 

 Table LXXXII 



DEPTH OF FREEZING (AFTER EMERSON) 



275 



245. Pruning. — Not much can be said in regard to the 

 relation of pruning to winter injuiy except what has already 

 been stated, namely, that practices which maintain a strong 

 vigorous tree and yet permit normal maturity are likely 

 to reduce danger from winter injury. At the Missouri 

 Experiment Station it was found that the vigor and rela- 

 tively late growth caused by stimulation of peach trees 

 would have some effect in reducing bud injury in the spring. 

 This was due to the shifting of the rest-period to later in 

 the season, as indicated before. "In Missouri nearly every 

 winter warm weather starts the buds into growth more or 

 less. Fruit-buds on trees that have made a vigorous growth, 

 caused by reasonably severe heading back or by cultivation, 

 are the less liable to winter injury." ^ 



If, however, the injuiy has taken place, it becomes im- 

 portant to prune judiciously if the best response is to be 

 obtained. If peach trees have been severely frozen in the 

 wood, it is best to give them a moderate pruning. If such 

 trees are severely pruned (leaving only bases of the main 

 limbs), they are very likely to be killed, but if the same trees 

 1 Mo. Agr. Exp. Sta. BuU. 74. 



