STONE FRUITS 



479 



3. Take out all dead or injured branches. It is sometimes a question 

 whether one can afford time to take out all of the many small dead branches 

 which are always to be found in the center of the tree, but as many of 

 them as possible should be removed. 



4. Thin the balance of the top as needed, taking out preferably no 

 branches larger than one's thumb. The amount of this priming is going 

 to depend, of course, on how much has been taken out in other ways and 

 on the type of tree. The amount of pruning should be varied somewhat 

 according to the outlook for a crop that season. If the fruit buds are all 

 killed it is a good opportunity to cut back rather severely and lower the 

 tree down if necessary. 



If part of the buds are 

 killed, it may be best to 

 prune very lightly in 

 order to save as much 

 of the crop as possible. 

 On the other hand, if 

 there are plenty of live 

 fruit buds the pruning 

 may be fairly severe, as 

 this helps to thin out 

 the fruit. 



Plums and cherries 

 bear essentially alike, 

 the fruit being produced 

 on short lateral spurs 

 and small twigs, and 

 also to a considerable 

 extent (especially with 

 the sour cherries and 

 the Japanese plums) on 

 the last year's wood as 

 with peaches. These 



spurs bear for several years, perhaps three to six, and then die away and 

 need to be replaced by new wood. The pruning of such trees therefore 

 should be moderate and should aim to keep the trees fairly open to 

 encourage new growth. The following outline may serve as a guide for 

 most trees of these two fruits: 



1. They require relatively little pruning. 



2. Cut back leaders if too high. This is especially important with 

 cherries, since the picking of high trees is more expensive than with any 

 other fruit. 



3. Cut out dead, broken and diseased branches. This is particularly 

 important with plums which are often badly attacked by the black knot. 



1 From Farmers' Bulletin 632, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



A Properly Pruned Peach Tree. 1 



