THE APPLE 



37 



spring often results in a great increase in the size and 

 quality of the fruit the following season and conse- 

 quently many growers think they must prune their 

 trees annually. The result of cutting off a large quan- 

 tity of the branches at one time is to greatly decrease 

 the number of buds, and consequently those remaining 

 having the same amount of the root force the whole tree 

 would have had, will grow more rapidly, the foliage be 

 more vigorous and the fruit larger and better, but if 

 pruning is to be depended upon for an increase in size 

 of fruit, only a few annual prunings could be given the 

 trees before they would be destroyed. 



It is generally better to put the labor often ex- 

 pended in pruning into thinning and spraying the fruit 

 when the trees are overloaded, or the cost of this work 

 into fertilizers, by which 

 means a permanently in- 

 creased vigor of the tree 

 would result and much better 

 fruit would be produced. 

 From this statement I would 

 not have the reader think 

 that no pruning is needed 

 after the trees begin to bear, 

 for constant care is needed 

 and more or less pruning 

 must be done to keep the 

 trees in good condition to 

 produce large crops of good 

 fruit, but many orchards have been ruined in a very 

 short time by pruning. Figure 19 illustrates a tree 

 too severely pruned, yet such is often to be found. In 

 the frontispiece may be seen a tree in perfect condition. 

 The following are some good rules for pruning fruit 

 trees, subject, of course, to slight changes under vary- 

 ing conditions: 



^ v»._ J< ; 



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Fig. 19— Tree Pruned Too 

 Severely 



