half of fruit hanging on a tree, and the tree's capacity to carry 

 it must be a matter of foresight by the orchardist. 



On the other hand, the matter of producing a fruitful tree 

 is a complicated problem intimately associated with other prac- 

 tices and varying with different kinds of fruits and varieties of 

 them. 



Shape and Form of the Tree. 



The general shape or form of a tree is largely a varietal 

 character and is not easily changed.. A tree which is quite 

 upright in habit of growth, such as the Wealthy or Sutton, 

 cannot be made to develop into a spreading type by any 

 system of pruning. Likewise a tree of a spreading habit, such 

 as the Rhode Island Greening, or one with a drooping habit, 

 as the Wolf River, cannot be developed into an upright grow- 

 ing one by pruning or training. Yet much can be done to 

 curb a wajTvard grower or improve the natural proclivities of 

 a variety. 



Types of Training the Apple Tree. 



The grower should first decide upon the general type of 

 tree which he wishes to develop and then begin with the 

 newly set tree to follow out his plans. 



There are several general forms into which the young tree 

 can be trained, the three principal ones being the vase or 

 open-headed tree, the semi-leader or modified leader, and the 

 central or pyramidal type.' The vase-shaped tree is developed 

 by selecting from three to six scaffold limbs which are to be 

 somewhat equal in importance and all of which are lateral 

 branches from the main trunk or stem, the central branch or 

 leader being cut out at planting time. These scaffold branches 

 are usually cut back to from 4 to 8 or 10 inches in length at 

 time of planting, provided the tree is two years old, but if it 

 is a one-year-old tree the top is cut back to from 20 to 30 

 inches in height and the scaffold branches are selected from 

 the initial ones sent out during the ensuing summer or the 

 following spring when they receive their first pruning. These 



^ In addition to these three general types of training we should perhaps include the natural 

 type of unpnined tree, although this sort of neglect is not common in commercial orchards. 



