130 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



will seldom exceed six or seven feet, and an attempt to 

 increase this depth will only result in a smothering out of 

 the wood below. 



A better plan is to increase the productiveness of the 

 tree by increasing its spread rather than its height. The 

 ideal peach tree is one in which the top just comes within a 

 right angle, or in other words, the spread should be almost 

 double the height. Figure 42 illustrates the point very 

 well. Notice how the head is well filled with fruiting- 

 wood, and compare with Figure 43, a tree of the same age. 

 With such a system of training, the first tree will be pro- 

 ductive at the age of 15 years, while the latter, now 9 years 

 old, must be rejuvenated by severe heading-in or be dis- 

 carded as unprofitable. 



There is no more frequent fault of the old peach tree than 

 that of the absence of fruiting-wood in its lower parts. 

 Such wood can be maintained below only by vigorous 

 pruning in the top. The center should also be well filled 

 with fruiting-wood, as space may be unnecessarily wasted 

 by training the top too open; the open center is not a 

 necessity in the arid sections, where sunshine is abundant. 

 The fruiting-wood in the center of the tree will hardly 

 appear as strong as that nearer the tips, but, nevertheless, 

 some of our best fruit comes from short and apparently 

 weak spurs along the larger limbs. Some have tried 

 summer pruning (thinning out the new wood in the center 

 of the tree), hoping to strengthen the remaining wood, but 

 it has not given satisfactory results; too often it starts 

 new growth that is immature and unfruitful. 



It is seldom that we read a paper on the subject of prun- 

 ing the peach orchard without finding some reference to 



