262 



ORCHARD MANAGEMENT 



and a half feet from the ground. In sections of the 

 country where the trees are subject to sun scald, it is the 



practice to start the heads 

 lower, so that the tops 

 may shade the trunks. 

 Pruning, spraying, and 

 harvesting may all be 

 performed economically 

 upon low-headed trees. 



Many trees have their 

 heads formed -when re- 

 ceived from the nursery. 

 In such cases, four or five 

 of the strongest branches 

 should be selected to form 

 the future framework of 

 the tree. These should be 

 distributed over at least 

 fifteen inches of the trunk and extend in all directions. 

 No two of them should be on opposite sides, as this pro- 

 duces a crotch which will easily split when heavily loaded 

 with fruit. All other branches should be removed and 

 the main limbs cut back a third to a half their length. 

 At the end of the second season's growth, each of these 

 scaffold limbs will have produced two or more lateral 

 branches. These in turn should be carefully selected and 

 headed back in order to produce a top with evenly dis- 

 tributed branches. It is well to remember that during 

 the first three years, the weaker portions of the tree must 

 be filled out. After this time there will be little pruning 

 to do until the tree comes into bearing, except to cut out 

 branches growing in the wrong direction. 



Fig. 138. A bad crotch, which will easily split. 



