314 SOME SPECIFIC ADVICE. 



sap, and finally to die. The low, spreading head shades the 

 trunk and large branches, and obviates this difficulty to a 

 great extent. In western New York this trouble is not so 

 serious as it is on the black lands farther west. A second 

 advantage, of equal or greater importance, lies in the fact 

 that, if allowed to grow upright, the limbs reach the height 

 of thirty to forty feet in twenty-five years, making it very 

 difficult to gather the fruit and to spray the trees. The 

 bearing branches are always found towards the extremities 

 of the limbs, and the time which men lose in going up and 

 down long ladders is of no small account to the fruit- 

 grower." 



Orange 



"The best form of tree is a low-headed, com- 

 pact growth. It is secured by trimming the 

 young tree, at transplanting, to a straight shoot 

 of four to six feet in height, and tying it to a 

 stake to give it support and straightness. All 

 shoots from above the bud are permitted to grow 

 to shade the trunk and to stiffen it, though a too 

 strong lateral may be pinched. The trunk must 

 be protected from the sun by wrapping with paper 

 or something of the kind, until the leaves do that 

 service. The lower branches will bear the first 

 fruit, and as the tree attains age, they will stop 

 growing and can be removed. Thus the head of 

 the tree is raised gradually, and space is given for 

 the drooping of the higher branches. In the top 

 of the tree, too, the rule for pruning should be to 

 remove the weaker branches which seem to have 

 outlived their usefulness, and thus give more 



