THE APPLE 



39 



3. To enable the pickers to gather the fruit easily 

 it is the common practice to thin out the inside 

 branches and to cut out all suckers or water sprouts. 

 This may be done to a certain extent, but only upon 

 branches that cross others^ as seen in Figure 22, so as 

 to injure one another. All branches that rest on those 

 below them so as to shut out the sunlight too much, 

 and all suckers that grow up into an already close 

 head, should be cut away, and no more. A tree to pro- 

 duce a large crop of apples must have a large full 

 head, and when there 

 is space above the 

 suckers that is not 

 well filled with 

 branches one or more 

 of these sprouts should 

 be allowed to grow, 

 for trees are often 

 more injured by cut- 

 ting away the shoots 

 and exposing the '— -^^^^^ 

 branches to the hot ^''' ?^'Z'''''-^"Zt\': tnc^t""^'""^ 



Line a Showing Where to Cut 



sun and drying winds 



than by no pruning. A good time to cut off the surplus 



suckers is in the early summer, when they may be 



removed with the thumb and finger or with the pocket 



knife. 



4. The removal of dead branches is always in 

 order, but if the trees have been properly cared for, 

 fertilized, sprayed and not allowed to overbear, these 

 should not appear until the trees are of great age. 

 Dead branches are an indication of neglect or improper 

 conditions of soil, and while pruning away such will 

 not remove the cause, an orchard looks much better 

 where any such blemishes are removed very soon after 

 they appear. The best time to remove dead branches 



