KINDS OF NURSERY TREES 



PRUNING TREES IN NURSERY 



89 



As for other treatment of the trees (either from bud or root 

 graft) in nursery during the first year, there is some difference of 

 opinion and practice. If the young tree will be content to make 

 a straight switch with good buds in the axils of the leaves, but no 

 laterals thrown out, it will be in the best possible shape for planting 

 in the orchard, and gives the planter a chance to make the head at 

 whatever height suits him, and to secure uniformity through the 

 orchard. All trees will not, however, be content with this growth, 

 but will push out laterals all along the stem. Even in this case 

 some let the whole growth go for the planter to treat as he thinks 

 best. Another plan is to go over the nursery when the young stock 

 is about two feet high and pinch back the laterals part way, but 

 retaining the leaves nearest the stem to shade the stem. This 

 pinching back is done from the ground up to a height of one to 

 one and a half feet, and above that the growth is left to take its 

 natural course, to be cut as desired when the head of the tree is 

 formed. Pinching back develops buds near the stem and gives the 

 planter a better chance to head the tree lower if he likes. Another 

 practice which prevails to some extent, is to pinch off the terminal 

 bud when the young tree has reached a height of about two and a 

 half or three feet in the nursery. This soon forces a growth of lat- 

 eral branches, which are in turn pinched after they have grown out 

 a couple of feet. The result is the formation of a head on a nursery 

 tree the first year, and when such trees are planted in orchard they 

 are merely cut back on the laterals, leaving the head as formed in 

 the nursery. Such trees are difficult to handle in packing, and take 

 much room in shipment. There may, however, be an advantage in 

 such practice for the home grower if he is situated in parts of the 

 State where the greatest season's growth is attained. Orchard 

 planters generally, however, prefer a June bud or a yearling of 

 moderate growth, without laterals. 



CLASSES OF NURSERY STOCKS 



The several classes of stock which are to be had from nurseries 

 are as follows : 



Root Grafts. These are seedling roots, or pieces of them, on 

 which scions of the desired variety have been grafted on the bench 

 and the junction healed over in the cellar. No growth has yet 

 started in the scion. If the tree planter wishes this kind of stock, 

 he should plant it out in nursery row in the spring and remove 

 the trees to orchard the following winter. 



June Buds. For multiplying varieties very fast, buds are kept 

 dormant in a cool place ; or, by pinching off the top shoots of the 



