PRUNING TOUNG TREES 



199 



would be to choose one branch for a leader and not cut 

 it back quite so heavily, to maintain that position. 



A great deal of so-called corrective pruning may be 

 done. That is, a tree four or five years old may develop 

 two branches weaker than the rest of the tree. These 

 may be encouraged to grow stronger and larger. To do 

 this, prune them very lightly, and prune the other parts 

 of the tree more heavily so as to encourage the two 

 weaker branches. 



163. Avoid sharp-angled, equally balanced crotches. 

 (Compare Figs. 163, 164.) Examine the average frame 

 branch of a tree carefully, from the point where it leaves 

 the main trunk up to 

 its last year's growth. 

 Its development will 

 probably have been 

 about as follows : The 

 first year the branch 

 was cut back it forced 

 out laterals, all except 

 two of which were re- 

 moved. These two 

 were cut equally and in 

 most cases were not 

 spaced very far apart. 

 The next year on each 

 of these the same treat- 

 ment was repeated. 

 Two branches were 

 chosen and these were 

 cut equally. The re- 

 sult is that the branches 

 all over the tree are in 

 pairs of equal length, 

 and form very sharp 



fork*; Thi'c m a \r A c 



US malCCS 



weak branches which 



FIG. 163 GOOD EXAMPLE OF PROPER 

 BALANCE BETWEEN BRANCHES 



N te that whenever there > s a crotch in 

 most cases one branch is stronger than the 



* AA are bad forks due to even 



