224 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



wood tends to become excessive. Not much fruit should 



be looked for until about the fourth year. 



178. Best height for peach tree head.* There is considerable 



variation in the recommendations and suggestions of various au- 

 thorities as to the proper 

 method or degree of prun- 

 ing peach trees at the time 

 of planting. A common 

 recommendation is to cut 

 the trees back to a height of 

 from 18 to 24 inches regard- 

 less of grade. Some recom- 

 mend cutting back the 

 trunks to 6 inches and 

 others even 30 inches. These 

 suggestions are apparently 

 based on some ideal with 

 respect to the height at 

 which the individual prefers 

 to have the branches form. 

 In order to secure a rela- 

 tively low-headed tree, one 

 must cut back the trunk of 

 the nursery tree rather 

 severely at planting time to 

 make it branch low. This 

 has led some to believe that 

 the more severely the tree 

 is cut back the lower the 

 head will be ; and that hence 

 spraying and picking the 

 fruit may be performed 

 more easily. But the mere 

 cutting back of the trunk 

 to a low point does not nec- 

 essarily mean that the fruit 

 may be picked more easily 

 or the tree sprayed more 

 economically than from one 

 whose head is formed sev- 

 eral inches higher (Ki.u. 

 72). For example, some 

 fruit growers cut the trees 

 back to a -six-inch stub at 

 the time of planting and 

 then proceed to remove all 

 side branches that form on 



FIG. 189 



NEGLECT FOLLOWING DEHORNING 

 Four years ago this old Italian Prune tree 

 was "dehorned" for renovation. Little or no 

 pruning has been done since. Last year the 

 tree bore a small crop of prunes on spurs 

 that had developed on the water sprouts stimu- 

 lated by the dehorning. There is promise of 

 a medium crop this year; but the newly 

 formed spurs in the lower part of the tree are 

 already declining because of too much shade. 

 To keep them from getting long and willowy, 

 and finally dying, considerable thinning out is 

 necessary. Heading back which would stimu- 

 late the formation of more water sprouts 

 would increase the trouble. Comoare with 

 Figs. 30, 31, 150, 159, 161, 165, 166 and the 

 explanations accompanying them. 



* Paragraphs 178 to 186 condensed from M. A. Blake's Bulletin (293) of the 

 New Jersey Experiment Station. 



