46 



By regularly cutting back the upright branches and by eliminating 

 the cross branches in the center of the ti'ee an open-center habit may 

 be developed and maintained. Short fruiting spurs should be allowed 

 to develop along the main branches. Watersprouts or " suckers " 

 if headed in will soon develop fruit spurs, and when the center of 

 the tree is kept open the fruit borne here will have an opportunity 

 to develop normally. 



Orchard Renovation. 



In the mature orchards of the east there aj^pears to have been 

 no effort to follow any particular style. Most of the orchards show 

 signs of having received a few feeble and spasmodic applications of 

 the pruning saw, or, to be more accurate, I should say a few slashes 

 with the axe, and judging from the appearance of the wounds the 

 axe was not always a sharp one. Many of these old orchards, al- 



FiG. 2. — The open-center habit of growth. A well-balanced tree with 

 plenty of room for the admission of light and air. Most orchardists 

 favor this type of tree in preference to the type shown in Fig. 1. 



though unj^rofitable, are in a good sound condition, and with a little 

 judicious pruning, spraying, cultivating and feeding may be put on 

 a profitable basis. 



The pruning of these old existing trees, therefore, is the first prob- 

 lem that confronts the apple grower in the east. The work in most 

 eases consists mainly in cutting out the central leader. Of course the 

 remainder of the tree will require some thinning. All upright grow- 

 ing branches should be removed and the long slender branches headed 

 in. All dead branches and stubs should also be cut off closely. 

 Sometimes it will be necessary to clean out and seal up cavities, but 

 if a large proportion of the trees require such surgical treatment it 

 is doubtful whether the orchard will bear the expense. Knot-hole 

 cavities, after being cleaned out. sterilized and having the surround- 



