PRUNING— THE SEASON 



441 



such as ringing, stripping and root pruning, show, despite some apparent 

 inconsistencies, that pruning during the growing season checks new shoot 

 formation and increment in trunk circumference more than does winter 

 pruning. 19 Batchelor and Goodspeed,^ reporting an experiment with 

 young bearing Jonathan and Gano apple trees in Utah, state that summer 

 pruning caused reduced vitaHty, though their figures show that the 

 average length of the new shoots under both pruning treatments was 

 practically the same during the 3 years for which the data are given. 

 Summer pruning, however, does not always retard growth more than 

 winter pruning. Experiments in New Jersey showed that peach trees 



Table 14. — Influence ok Early Summer Pruning on Shoot Development 

 IN Young Apple Trees 

 (After Gardner-^) 



pruned during the dormant season averaged 3,821 inches of new shoot 

 growth in 1916, while those pruned in the summer averaged 4,227.^ 

 Though this difference is perhaps not much above experimental error, 

 it at least indicates that summer pruning does not always have a dwarfing 

 influence. In Table 14 are presented data obtained in Oregon showing 

 the influence on shoot development in young apples of rather severe 

 early summer pruning. In kind and in severity the summer pruning 

 treatment was practically identical with that given in the winter. In 

 every instance the summer pruned trees produced more total shoot 



