196 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



pruning it would be well to leave two leaders, laying the 

 foundation for a new branch. By alternating in this way we 

 can increase the number of ramifications of the tree, without 

 getting it too dense — the trouble with most lemon trees. 



These new leaders, when grown big enough, should in turn 

 be cut back, and treated in the same manner. Beyond this, 

 and keeping water-sprouts out of the center, little need be done 

 to the tree. Nature will take care of the rest. 



It may seem impracticable to apply one set of rules to all 

 varieties of the lemon tree, but in the experience of the writer, 

 all have responded to this method of treatment. The Lisbon, 

 being first and last a lusty grower, is bound, whatever the 

 style of pruning, to make a rank mass of new wood. Let it 

 grow, and cut off what is not wanted; let it grow again, and 

 cut it back again. It can be made to bear plenty of fruit 

 within easy reach; if left to itself it will produce little but 

 stovewood. 



The Eureka and Villa Franca, being of more tractable habits, 

 form less and less new wood as they grow older and their crops 

 increase; so that in time little or no pruning is necessary. 



The question has been asked, whether the fruit spurs of the 

 lemon go on bearing, or die after bearing a few crops; making 

 necessary a constant growth of new wood, as with the orange 

 and peach. From observation the writer believes that the 

 lemon spur, with the apple and pear, is long lived and goes on 

 bearing for years. If, on the other hand, the spurs are really 

 short lived, severe pruning alone will insure new wood. 



No radical system should be generally adopted without care- 

 ful trial. The "open-center" system has been applied to a 

 large acreage of lemon trees, with unmistakable benefits, and 

 the number of acres so treated is increasing. In the orchards 

 in charge of the writer sixteen thousand trees, mostly three 

 years old, have been changed to conform to this style. Hardly 

 a tree has been lost in the transformation, and prominent 

 horticulturists pronounce the trees unsurpassed for their age, 

 in size, condition, or fruitfulness. Where before was despair 

 as to what to do with the troublesome tops, now all is simple 

 and easily done. It would pay every lemon-grower to try 

 these suggestions on a few trees, and let the results speak for 

 themselves. 



