ORCHARD MANAGEMENT 



135 



MAIN BRANCH 



This also aids in forcing out the buds and branches desired 

 for the framework of the tree. Usually three are left to form 



the main framework. They 

 should be well distributed 

 LATERAL around the tree and should 

 not be closer to each other 

 than six or eight inches 

 (Figs. 90-91). 



After the first growing 

 season, in the dormant period, 

 pruning is done to give the 

 proper shape to the tree. 

 The main branches previously 

 selected to form the frame- 

 work are allowed to remain, 

 being headed back or cut to 

 laterals (side branches). All 

 other branches are removed. 

 In the second and third sea- 

 son, with few exceptions, it is 

 only necessary to thin out unnecessary branches or at most 

 to cut to laterals. (See Plate IV.) 



224. Pruning trees of bearing age. Many trees, if prop- 

 erly pruned and in good soil, begin to bear fruit as early as 

 the fourth season. Recent investigations have led to modi- 

 fications in the older methods of pruning. In pruning bearing 

 trees, it is advisable to thin out the branches to admit light 

 and air, then fruit-spurs and fruit-buds usually develop in 

 profusion. Cutting to laterals is also beneficial. Continual 

 heavy heading back is not advisable, for it results in the 

 growth of a large number of small shoots near the cut ends 

 so that wood growth rather than the development of fruit- 

 spurs and buds is the result, and the tree becomes very 

 "bushy," requiring heavy pruning the following year. Sun- 

 burn is likely to occur after heavy heading. Branches may 



FIG. 90. A one-year-old apple tree before 

 pruning. The lines show where to cut. 

 Three scaffold limbs, a, b, c, are left. 



