102 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



successful young Colorado orchard that has been severely 

 headed-in. 



Thus far our discussion has had to do entirely with apple 

 trees. The same principles apply to most of the other 

 fruits, with the exception of those, like the peach, that 

 bear fruit on last season's wood. The pear is pruned much 

 the same as the apple, as are also the blue or domestica 

 plums. The latter should be headed lower, and they re- 

 quire much less attention after the character of the top 

 has been formed. The sour cherry and red or cultivated 

 varieties of American plums, require almost no pruning, 

 except that the tops should be kept very low. 



Pruning Young Peach Trees 



The response of the young peach tree to proper pruning 

 is even more marked than that of the apple; it seems to 

 have a greater range of possibilities. In habit of fruit- 

 bearing, the peach differs from the apple in the fact that 

 its fruit-buds are axillary and not terminal. The fruit 

 is borne on one-year-old wood (Chapter VI). As com- 

 pared with the apple, the development of its fruit-buds 

 is less easily influenced by overgrowth; that the tree will 

 stand more vigorous pruning than the apple is suggested by 

 its habit of fruit-bearing and proved by experience. The 

 grower should take advantage of this as a means of keep- 

 ing his trees well within bounds. The excuse so -often 

 offered for .heading the tree high no longer applies, for 

 experience has shown that, if properly trained, the low- 

 headed tree is no more difficult to work about than the 

 high-headed tree (Figs. 19 and 26). 



The first important step in growing a young peach or- 



