Pruning of Deciduous Trees 69 



eight secondary arms, and at the third winter's 

 pruning strong leading shoots arising from the 

 secondary arms may be left, but pruned back to 

 outward-pointing buds. A well-trained pear tree 

 should have about a dozen leaders, spaced as nearly 

 as possible equidistant from each other, and such a 

 shape should be attained by the third, or at the 

 latest, by the fourth winter's pruning. 



At subsequent winter's pruning the tops of the 

 leaders are either cut back, turned to a suitable out- 

 ward-pointing lateral, or if pruned according to the 

 system of the "uncut terminal," left entirely un- 

 pruned, the amount of cutting back depending upon 

 the nature of the wood growth the weaker the 

 growth the severer the cutting back, and the 

 stronger the growth the lighter the pruning. 



The pear bears its fruit on permanent spurs aris- 

 ing either directly from the leaders or from laterals 

 growing out from the leaders. Laterals of 1 foot 

 to 18 inches in length growing out of the leaders in 

 a horizontal direction should be left uncut at the 

 winter's pruning until they are covered in fruit 

 spurs, when they should be shortened back slightly 

 each year until they have been reduced to sturdy, 

 well-branched fruit spurs. 



THE UNCUT TERMINAL. 



As trees grown under Australian irrigation con- 

 ditions receive their greatest supply of moisture 

 when they are at their period of most active growth 

 that is, during the spring and summer moiiths 

 it follows that the amount of 'wood growth made is 

 much in excess of trees of like variety that are 

 grown under conditions of normal rainfall, which 

 chiefly falls in the winter months when the trees are 

 dormant. 



