HOW TO 1'JUJNK FOR KFFECTS 



129 



must be accompanied with the fullest possible knowledge of the 

 bearing habit of the fruit or variety thereof. 



Cutting back or "shortening in" should be done in a way which 

 will reduce the burst of new shoots near the cut. This is measurably 

 secured by always cutting the branch at a strong lateral, because the 

 sap flow into this lateral prevents undue pressure and forcing of 

 latent buds in the vicinity of the cut. For this reason the cutting 

 back of all branches to a certain definite height is wrong. Trees 



Second winter pruning in orchard. 



shorn across at a certain line become thick as a brush with top 

 shoots which require extensive thinning, or the bearing wood will 

 soon be all at that level through failure of the densely-shaded bear- 

 ing wood below. Cut to the nearest lateral below the line you wish 

 to approximate, and shorten the lateral if desirable, and the result 

 will be fewer and stronger shoots than from a stub-cut. 



In the treatment of bearing trees the main effort should generally 

 be toward thinning or reducing the number of bearing shoots. This 

 is related to the important work of thinning the fruit to reduce the 

 burden of the tree, and will be mentioned again in that connection. 

 The work has, however, a bearing beyond the size of the individual 

 fruit specimens. It involves the whole future of the tree as a profit- 



