220 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



of young trees practice cutting off considerable wood on 

 the outside of the tree and leave the centers a little dense. 

 The reverse is the better policy. Try to keep the trees 

 low headed, broad and low spreading, so as to build a 

 large framework for fruiting wood in succeeding years. 

 176. Recommendations for English walnuts. Trees 

 should be headed at about 35 inches, and at the time they 

 are headed a heavy stake 7 or 8 feet long should be driven 

 in the ground close to the body of the tree. The first 

 summer choose four or five laterals that will give a good 

 framework and tie these to the stake. If this is not done 

 they will tend to droop to the ground too much, but by 

 careful tying one can keep them well in shape. The 

 following spring cut back the trees exactly as though 

 they were apples. In many walnut trees one branch may 

 grow up 6 or 8 feet 3 or 4 feet higher than any of the 

 other branches. Cut this back hard so as to bring on 

 the other branches. Generally the 

 pruning should be done just before the 

 starting of the sap flow. Formerly the 

 trees were allowed to grow three or 

 four years, all laterals were taken off 

 and the trees grown to poles. We find 

 that when they are handled as though 

 they were apples, we get more spread- 

 ing trees with larger fruiting areas 

 trees which will be much easier to 

 handle from the orchard management 

 point of view. 



177. Recommendations for peaches. 

 The peach has a different fruiting habit 

 from any other trees we have men- 

 tioned (56). However, the aim in 

 pruning such trees the first few years 

 is much the same as that for other types 

 of fruit ; namely, the building up of a 

 framework for future years of 



FIG. 184 



POOR TYPE CHERRY 

 All the main 

 branches issue at one 

 point. Note how "leggy" 

 the tree is. This is 

 due to insufficient head- 

 ing back the first two 

 years. Heading this 

 tree back twice a year 

 might have been help- 

 ful. 



