PRUNING YOUNG TREES 237 



several generations of tops on one stock. But it will generally be 

 found that the trouble with old, non-productive trees lies in the 

 root-system, or in the management of soil, or in both. Thorough 

 investigation of roots and soil should be made before any severe 

 cutting or pruning of the top is resorted to. 



Except as noted in preceding paragraphs, all trees should be 

 trained low for protection against frost, heat and wind, and to aid 

 the gathering of fruit. Heavily laden branches are generally propped 

 to prevent breaking down, as the loss from dropping and splitting 

 is so great that the trees cannot be safely lightened by thinning the 

 fruit when small. 



190. Pruning and training young lemon trees.* The lemon tree 

 must be watched closely and built up year by year, and deck by 

 deck. The first and most important thing to consider is the building 

 of the framework, which must carry a heavy load of fruit and 

 which should be strong enough at bearing age to support this weight 

 without breaking. Three kinds of materials are needed : building 

 wood to construct the frame, fruit, limbs and spurs to bear fruit. 

 Building wood is that part of the growth that is inclined to grow 

 straight up, and when a tree is young sometimes outward at an 

 angle. Fruit limbs grow from 1 to 2 l / 2 feet long and are dis- 

 tinguished by their position on the frame of the tree and by the 

 ends of the limbs, which show matured leaves and indications of 

 buds forming at the tips. Sometimes a blossom occurs and often a 

 little cluster of lemons. Fruit spurs are the growths that come on 

 these fruit limbs, as also on the framework of the tree, if the tree 

 is of a fruiting nature. 



Another growth about which there is a good deal of discussion 

 is the sucker wood. A growth, or sprout, is a sucker only when it 

 grows where it cannot be used on that part of a tree already de- 

 veloped. The question has been raised, When is a sucker not a 

 sucker? When something unexpectedly happens to a part of the 

 tree so the sucker may be used, not for a fruit limb, but as a part 

 of the tree. For instance, when a large limb has split off one side 

 of a tree, just above it being a sucker 12 to 16 inches long. The 

 split limb may be taken off entirely and the abrasion smoothed off 

 and painted. The sucker may then be tied to the main part of the 

 tree to prevent its breaking off, when it is large enough to cut back 

 at the proper point to make it branch and spread it may be used to 

 fill in the gap. In this case the sprout was a sucker when it could 

 not be used, but when circumstances permitted its use it was no 

 longer one. 



Building a lemon tree is accomplished by a systematic cutting out 

 and back. This does not necessarily mean that the tree should not 

 be expected or allowed to bear fruit during the building of the frame. 

 More and better fruit will be produced at an earlier date than if the 



* Excerpt from an address by W. H. Fleet before the Special Citrus Convention, 

 San Bernardino, Cal., February, 1916. 



