MAKING AN ORCHARD. 167 



spring in order to give the right shape to the tree 

 and promote wood growth, so as to build it up with 

 a well-balanced, symmetrical head, open to wind and 

 sun, and with the branches not too crowded. When 

 the tree reaches five years or so, summer pruning is re- 

 commended in place of winter, or rather spring, prun- 

 ing, in order to develop fruit buds instead of wood 

 growth. The rule is: Winter pruning for wood 

 growth, and summer pruning for fruit growth. Fruit 

 buds will, of course, form, even though there is no 

 summer pruning. They form independently of winter 

 pruning; but summer pruning is believed to promote 

 their formation. This question of summer versus 

 winter pruning is one of considerable intricacy and 

 difficulty. Even experts are not fully agreed as to 

 the actual effects produced in the case of either. The 

 difference between the two, although it appears to be 

 pretty well established, is still to a large extent a 

 matter of theoretical discussion. But it will be a few 

 years before the planter of a young orchard will have 

 any need to face the problems involved in this stage 

 of orchard work, and by that time he will no doubt 

 have gathered sufficient information on the subject 

 to enable him to form his own opinion. 



The following sound and valuable advice was 

 offered by a prominent fruit grower in the State of 

 Washington in a paper read before the Washington 

 Horticultural Society at Seattle, and reproduced in 

 Bulletin No, 14 (1905) of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture of British Columbia, on the " Care and Manage- 

 ment of Orchards " (pp. 10-11):— 



" The first year after setting, head the shoots back 

 from eight to twelve inches, according to the vigour 



