2(32 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



there will be but little cutting to do, except to shorten in and thin 

 out, and this requires some judgment and experience, to know 

 where to cut, how to cut, and when to cut. To shorten in, never 

 cut down to an old fruit spur. It is very difficult to get healthy 

 wood out of such ; but whenever you can find last year's wood, 

 there you can cut with safety anything that is less than one inch 

 in diameter. 



This system of pruning must be accompanied by constant 

 pinching during the summer-time. It should commence when 

 the lower shoots are about six inches long, and be followed up 

 closely all through the growing season. Those on the trunk 

 should never get longer than eight or ten inches, under any cir- 

 cumstances. After these are pinched, let the trees rest ten or 

 fifteen days, or until the branches in the top get a good start. 

 Then pinch everything clean but the leader, in every main branch 

 in the tree. The leader takes its own way all through the growing 

 season, to prevent the effects of over-pinching or checking growth. 

 If only the side shoots are kept back, the leader or head of the 

 branches receives the current or flow of sap and maintains and 

 carries on life and vitality in the tree. One object in pinching or 

 spur pruning is to keep back surplus wood and create fruit spurs, 

 throwing all the little twigs and branches into fruit, thereby utiliz- 

 ing all the wood the tree can produce, not allowing it to grow at 

 the tree's expense, and then have to cut it off. And another object 

 in side-shoot pruning is to make the tree produce fine large cher- 

 ries, all closely nestling around the big wood, and no long, slim 

 branches hanging down like weeping willow. All such branches 

 are always more or less sunburnt on the top and full of worms, 

 one of the evils tending to the destruction of the tree. 



This method is commended to those who like a tree with a 

 central leader, and are willing to give their orchards such constant 

 attention. Unless pinching and consequent multiplication of shoots 

 and foliage is faithfully followed such a tree is apt to become tall 

 and rangy and to expose its bark all the way up to sunburn and 

 borers. 



THE USUAL METHOD OF PRUNING THE CHERRY 



As we have said, all cherry growers agree on low heading and 

 on the advantage of pinching the lowest shoots as soon as they 

 make a bunch of leaves. In forming the head, and in after treat- 

 ment, the usual method is quite different from that we have 

 described. It follows the vase or goblet form, which' has been 

 discussed at length in the chapter on pruning. Of the application 

 of this method to the cherry, W. W. Smith, in an address before 

 the State Horticultural Society, said : 



