74 TREATISE ON 



thin, long, and slender, with flat buds that are far apart from one another. It also 

 originates at the point of the last pruning. Its weakness makes it incapable of sustaining 

 fruit well or becoming a good wood branch. As a result, it's removed. If there's a gap to 

 be filled or one to be prevented, it's pruned back to a single bud from which a branch in 

 better condition can emerge. It's treated the same way on vigorous trees that have to be 

 filled out by pruning, provided that it won't create clutter. 



Definition 4. The twig branch is a small stunted branch. Possessing the same 

 defects, it should have the same fate. 



Definition 5. The sucker is a degenerate fruiting branch, or one that's emerged in 

 place of a fruiting branch at the point of the last pruning. It's stronger than, or at least just 

 as strong as a wood branch; it's long, big, and straight, tending in a vertical direction. Its 

 bark is green; the buds are flat & far apart. 



Since it grows unnaturally & can't but disrupt the shape & the foliage of the tree, 

 it has to be curtailed. As soon as this branch is noticed and recognized, it should be 

 pinched, re-pinched, & suppressed by various means {Prop. 7. 8.) without cutting it off, 

 lest the abundance of sap contained in it be diverted to neighboring fruiting branches & 

 cause them to degenerate. 



Definition 6. The false wood branch is one that arises unnaturally at a place other 

 than on the branch of the latest pruning, i.e. it originates at the point of an earlier pruning, 

 or even on the trunk of the tree. Sometimes it has the characteristics of a good wood 

 branch; most often it has those of a sucker & is only distinguishable from one by its point 

 of origin. 



