56 



POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



wax is an especially good material to use, but is too expensive 

 for ordinary use where many limbs are to be painted. 



Tools. Good tools kept in good condition are essential for 



good pruning work. 

 The common ax and 

 bucksaw do not come 

 under this head. A 

 good saw, light and 

 heavy shears, tree 

 pruner for heading in 

 limbs, ladder and 

 heavy knife are all 

 the tools actually need- 

 Fig. 10. Methods of cutting, a. Split e d in the work. The 

 from removal of limb cut from above, 



b. Proper method of removing limb, common two-edged prun- 

 ing saw is the one most 



often used. The swivel saw is much handier, however. The 

 heavy long-handled shears often take the place of the saw, but 

 unless the pruner is careful in handling them stubs will be left 

 on the tree. 



Forming the Apple Tree. 

 Figure 13 shows the dif- 

 ferent steps in formative 

 pruning, starting, as is done 

 in some parts of the coun- 

 try, with the one-year-old 

 tree. The numeral / repre- 

 sents a tree set; la shows 

 it cut back to 18 to 24 inch- 

 es from the ground and the 

 side branches cut off. This 

 will force out a number of 

 side buds into strong 

 branches. If all of these 

 are allowed to remain we 

 have a tree similar to .? the 

 second year. These should 

 be thinned to three or four, 

 as shewn in 2a. There Flg- 





11 Handy method of heating 

 grafting wax to paint wounds. 



