PRUNING YOUNG TREES 



191 



157. Form of tree often due to local whim. The type 

 of growth of trees in one's locality may determine to a 

 certain degree what system shall be used. For example, 

 Oregon growers wouldn't grow Wagener ordinarily as 

 an open type of tree. It is rather an upright grower for 

 a few years, but later becomes a feeble grower. On the 

 other hand, they 



should not think oi 

 growing varieties 

 like T o m p k i n s 

 King or Northern 

 Spy as center trees, 

 since these trees 

 shoot up too 

 straight, are too big 

 and too hard to 

 control. Yellow 

 Newtown is too 

 often pruned as a 

 typical open tree. 

 On light soils it be- 

 comes very weak 

 when 12 or 15 years 

 old. A modified 

 leader, or in some 

 cases even the old- 

 fashioned leader, 

 would be better 

 with Yellow New- 

 town. On the other 

 hand, on some very 

 strong loams, Yel- 

 low Newtown can be handled very satisfactorily when 

 grown as an open or globe-shaped tree, provided a little 

 care is taken in spacing the branches carefully the first 

 two or three years. 



158. The height of head is only a relative term. One 



FIG. 151 



HEAVY HEADING BACK DEVELOPS WOOD 

 Young vase-formed apple tree which shows the 

 effects of very heavy heading back. In this case 

 the pruner cut back to two-year and three-year 

 wood. Fruit spurs that had started to form were 

 forced into shoots. The entire energies of the 

 tree have been temporarily turned into shoot 

 formation. The age of bearing has probably been 

 delayed two years by this treatment. 



