Pruning Mature Trees 125 



While the season for pruning the apricot generally 

 extends through February and March, summer pruning 

 is rather extensively practiced on the Pacific coast, where 

 the trees are headed-in as soon as the crop is harvested. 

 This starts the smaller laterals into stronger growth, and 

 they develop an abundance of fruit-buds. Limited obser- 

 vations of the same system employed in the inter-mountain 

 climate suggest that it may not be without merit here. 

 While this late growth is inclined to be immature and 

 may suffer from severe winter freezing, it is more desirable 

 from the standpoint of late blooming. Fruit-buds on this 

 immature wood open four to five days later than those on 

 mature wood. This may frequently be an advantage in 

 localities where late spring frosts are not uncommon. 

 The advisability of such a practice has not been fully 

 demonstrated, and is given only as a suggestion. 



Pruning the Cherry 



The man who objects to pruning, vowing homage to 

 nature, should grow cherries, for there is no fruit-tree of 

 which it may be said that nature is a more efficient 

 pruner. In fact, it is a common impression among 

 fruit-growers that the mature cherry tree needs no 

 pruning. This condition, however, is more largely due 

 to indifference on the part of the markets than to an 

 inability to secure results from pruning. When compe- 

 tition becomes more keen, fancy grades of cherries will 

 gain in popularity and, as in the growing of other fancy 

 fruits, pruning will be found to be expedient. 



In the cherry the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood and 

 mostly on short growths or spurs. An examination of 



