Pruning the Nursery Trees 



15 



San Dimas, California 



7 WAXED CLOTH READY FOE TWISTING. 9 BUD STAKED AND TIED 



8 WAXED CLOTH TIGHTLY TWISTED. 



then be tied to the stake at suitable distances with string or 

 raffia, the latter being preferable, because cheaper and easier to 

 handle. The strings should be placed every four or six inches 

 up the stake and tied directly under the leaf. If tied over the 

 leaf, it is apt to cause the young stem to bulge out underneath 

 and make an ill-shaped tree. After the buds have attained the 

 heighth of eighteen inches and have hardened up sufficiently, 

 they are then in a condition for the seedling stump left after the 

 lopping to be sawed or cut off just over the union of the bud with 

 the seedling stock. ( See Fig. 9. ) This will force the entire 

 growth into the tree. The sturnp is then painted, waxed or 

 covered with shellac to prevent cracking or drying up by the 

 weather. After the seedling tops have been cut off or lopped, 

 there will be a great many suckers or sprouts forced out, which 

 should be removed by thumb pruning. In training the young tree 

 to a stake, it is necessary to keep all such suckers or sprouts 

 removed until the tree is of sufficient heighth to head when the 

 top can be cut off at the desired heighth to force out shoots to 

 form the head of the regular nursery tree for orchard planting. 

 It is customary with us to top all of our trees at a heighth of 

 thirty-three inches, allowing them to limb down nine inches. 

 This leaves a space of twenty-four inches from the lower limbs 

 of the tree to the surface of the ground. Of late years the trade 

 prefers a lower headed tree than formerly. This method of topping 

 makes a tree much stockier which will withstand the wind much 



better. A low headed tree of this description also has the 

 advantage of shading its own trunk from the rays of the sun wher. 

 it is young and tender and in its first stages of development. 



PRUNING A NURSERY TREE FOR ORCHARD PLANT- 

 ING. Before the tree is removed from the nursery to the orchard 

 it should be properly cut back. This usually consists of lopping 

 off about one-half of the top, though some allowance must be 

 made for condition of the tree, if balled or open roots, and the 

 weather. It is of great importance, however, that the tree 

 should be properly pruned before transplanting. Too much 

 foliage will cause a greater evaporation than the roots can stand. 



METHODS OF TRANSPLANTING. There are two methods 

 of transplanting nursery trees to orchard form, viz., the 

 open root and the balling system. In following the former method 

 a trench is first dug along side of the tree to the depth at which 

 the top roots are to be cut. The soil should be well irrigated 

 before the tree is taken out to avoid breaking any of the fibrous 

 roots or disturbing any of the root system during the process 

 of removing the tree. After the trench is dug and the tap root 

 cut, a spade is forced down on the opposite side of the tree from 

 the trench at a sufficient distance away to avoid disturbing any 

 of the root system; the tree is then pried carefully into the trench 

 and the earth shaken off the roots. The roots should then be 



