PRUNING ON THE PLAINS 185 



that any treatment designed to produce blossom- 

 buds must be made before midsummer if it is 

 to have effect in that year. In general, how- 

 ever, as has been said, the effect of treatment 

 is to be expected in the year or years follow- 

 ing the treatment, rather than in the very year 

 in which it is applied. 



17. The effect of pruning, as ivell as the neces- 

 sity of it, depends greatly upon locality 

 and climate. 



Not only does the vigor of plants differ widely 

 in different places, but there are local dangers to 

 be avoided. In the coldest parts of the country, 

 winter -made wounds are the means of depriving 

 the tree of much of its moisture (page 143) ; in 

 such regions, plants need the protection of a 

 continuous cover of bark. In the hot and dry 

 interior regions, sun-scalding often follows very 

 heavy pruning, and there has thus arisen a feeling 

 that trees should not be pruned on the Plains. 

 It is undoubtedly true that in those regions out- 

 door plants need less pruning than in humid cli- 

 mates, but trees which need to be so heavily 

 pruned that they are injured by sun- scald are 

 usually those which have been neglected in the 

 beginning. On this subject Card writes* as fol- 

 lows: 



"Sluill we prune fruit trees in the West? To the east- 

 *Fred W. Card, "Notes on Pruning", Bull. 50, Nebr. Exp. Sta. 1897. 



