43 



and questioning them closely as to their practice and the results. He 

 will not trouble the reader with the many theories advanced, much less 

 with discussing them. A feAv essential points are all that is necessary 

 to be attended to. 



In pruning, the sharper the knife or saw, the better. Let the cut 

 be clean and smooth. When the knife is used it is better to cut -up 

 than down ; as the downward cut is apt to split the wood and peal off' 

 the bark. Do the principal pruning in the Spring. By all mean- 

 avoid Fall or Winter pruning, as it is apt to start new wood at a time 

 when it is most exposed to damage from frost Cut oft* all dead wood, 

 and up to, or a little into the living wood. Thereby the wound heals 

 more readily. As a general rule cut off all diseased branches; 

 especially if they have become so far diseased as to fail to develop 

 healthy leaves. Do not trim up the trunk too high. Encourage the 

 lower branches to extend themselves well around the trunk and far 

 over the surface of the ground. If they do not touch the ground they 

 are not too low. As the tree grows these branches will continue to. 

 droop nearer the ground until the lowest may have to be cut off after 

 awhile ; but this late cutting off is much better than to have the trunk 

 exposed either to sun or cold. 



Give and keep an open head to the tree. To do this, select the 

 most vigorous lateral branches, leaving some on all sides of the tree so 

 as to obtain a head as uniformly balanced as possible. After cutting 

 off the other branches close to the trunk, trim up these selected 

 branches almost to a point leaving only a few of the terminal, smaller 

 branches. When this is done, the tree will look like a skele- 

 ton and you will likely conclude you have used the knife too freely. 

 But if this pruning has been done in the Spring and you keep the 

 "water" shoots pulled off the trunk, and cultivate well, you will find 

 the trunk by Winter enclosed by a beautiful head with a dense wall of 

 foliage on the outside. The next Spring trim these laterals in a simi- 

 lar manner, allowing the first laterals to rebranch a little distance 

 from the trunk so as to be able to fill up the larger area by FalL 

 Continue this method till your tree is large enough to bear its fir.-t 

 crop. You can then slacken your pruning so as to encourage the 

 fruiting*. 



