THE LEMON IN CALIFORNIA PRUNING. 191 



mind the objects in view, which are: to make the tree stocky, 

 and at the same time to keep it from getting too dense. The 

 pruning should be confined entirely to an effort to control the 

 growth of the skeleton of the tree, letting nature take care of 

 the fruit spurs with which this skeleton is clothed. 



The terminal shoots or leaders of the tree should be left 

 alone until they have grown to be several feet in length and 

 from one quarter to one half inch in diameter. They should 

 then be cut back, leaving from six to ten inches from the last 

 pruning. In cutting back a vertical leader, cut to a bud that 

 points out, away from the tree; horizontal leaders should be 

 cut to a bud that points up. By persevering in this practice 

 the limbs can be trained out, then up, then out again; they 

 will be angular and crooked, which is conducive to fruitful- 

 ness. Their angling direction will help to brace them against 

 the evergrowing leverage of their fruit and foliage, so that, 

 while they may in time be bent down to the horizontal, they 

 will never droop and rest upon the ground. 



After each cutting back these leaders should be left alone and 

 nature given full sway; and this is what will happen: Five or 

 six buds nearest the cut will be excited into growth. Then 

 will ensue a struggle to see which of these buds will get the 

 most sap. The terminal bud is sure to get its share, and 

 become a strong, sucker-like shoot. Probably one or two others 

 will secure enough nutriment to become suckers likewise. The 

 rest of the buds will have to give up their ambition to shine, 

 and will settle down to the domestic role of bearing lemons, 

 and thus perpetuating their species. These are the shoots that 

 we are after. Were it not for the cutting back these buds 

 would become dormant and lost to use; the leader on which 

 they are situated would grow five or six feet perhaps, before 

 nature would make another branching, and give more buds a 

 chance to go to housekeeping. 



How to handle the shoots which get the sap and become 

 leaders is an important question. It is right here that judi- 

 cious thinning should be done, to keep the tree from becoming 

 too dense. All the shoots should be left until long enough 

 to show which will be fruit spurs and which leaders. All 

 but one of the leaders, the one which points in the desired 

 direction, should be cut off clean. This leader will thus become 

 the foundation of all future growth on this branch. At 



