GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING 



127 



tree very severely during the dormant season and you will 

 develop a very strong tendency towards wood growth the follow^- 

 ing year; prune it very moderately and the tendency to wood 

 will be moderate. The other side of the principle, the influence 

 of summer pruning towards the production of fruit, is not so 

 well established and doubtless depends considerably on the 

 nature and extent of such pruning. If a large amount of wood is 



Fig. 55. — A Sutton apple tree. A very upright growing tree and one that is difficult to 

 prune into a satisfactory shape. 



Fig. 56. — Bradshaw plum tree. Like many other varieties of European plums the Bradshaw 

 makes strong leaders which need to be cut back each year to keep the tree down. 



removed in the summer pruning, and particularly if this is done 

 rather early in the season, it is very doubtful whether there is 

 much, if any, tendency towards fruit. In fact such pruning 

 will usually result in developing secondary shoots which may 

 produce quite as much growth as the original shoot would have 

 done. But if the pruning is delayed until rather late in the 

 season, and if it then consists in merely taking out the growing 



