178 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



Summer Pruning 



All of the factors of pruning which have been men- 

 tioned are governed largely by the time of year at which 

 the pruning is done. Winter pruning tends to produce 

 wood, while summer pruning tends to fruitfulness. Sum- 

 mer pruning, through the removal of the leaves, reduces 

 the working and elaborating surface, and a consequent 

 tendency to starvation or weakening of the plant. If this 

 summer pruning is done in such a manner, and at such a 

 time as to stop the wood growth in the plant, it will gen- 

 erally promote the formation of numerous fruit buds, but 

 if done too early in the season the growth of the tree will 

 be upset, and it will make a second and late growth that 

 summer. If done too late, after the tree has stopped mak- 

 ing wood growth for that summer, it will have much the 

 same effect as winter pruning. Summer pruning is more 

 often done by pinching the tips from shoots that are mak- 

 ing an excessive growth rather than by cutting out any 

 large amount of wood. 



The climate in which a tree is growing determines to a 

 large extent what the manner of pruning shall be and when 

 it need be done. In the colder parts of the country winter 

 pruning, that is, cutting off large limbs during mid-winter, 

 allows such a large amount of moisture to evaporate from 

 the wood that the bark may be damaged for some distance 

 around each wound from the effects of drying out. 

 Under such circumstances the pruning is best done late in 

 the spring, so that the wounds can be closed over most 

 quickly. In the hot, dry sections of the country there may 

 be a considerable amount of sun-scalding following severe 

 pruning, and has given rise to the statements in the Cen- 

 tral Western states that the trees should not be pruned. 

 This, however, needs to be considered carefully, for, while 

 it is true that in the states of bright sunshine and dry 

 air the fruit will color up well even in trees with dense 

 foliage, the trees will become more or less misshapen un- 

 less pruned. Under such conditions the pruning needs to 

 be followed just as regularly as in the humid air of the 

 coast states, but needs be done less severely. 



