Vigor Promoted by Pruning. IIl5 
profit, and is really out of the question from a commercial point 
of view. Sometimes it does not pay to pick some fruits at a 
certain distance above the ground, when picking at half that 
distance yields a profit. 
Health and Strengih.—It is imperative in most parts of this 
State that the sunshine be not allowed to touch the bark during 
the heat of the day. This protection is secured even for young 
trees by low branching and the encouragement of small, low 
laterals. The low tree with properly spaced branches attains 
superior strength by virtue of thick, strongly knit, short growth 
between branches, and by its strong, stiff, obliquely-rising 
growth sustains weight which brings horizontal branches to the 
ground, and thus even high-headed trees are liable to contin- 
ually increasing interference with cultivation, and the desperate 
grower has to raise the head of his tree higher into the air and 
farther above the profit line, while at the same time he renders 
it more liable to sunburn, to bark-binding, and to unthrift by 
forcing the sap to flow an unnecessary distance and through wood 
and bark which impede its movement. Besides, a low tree 
escapes stress by strong winds which a high tree invites and at 
the same time is less able to withstand. Pruning for health and 
strength of tree also includes the removal of unthrifty or dis- 
eased parts, which are not only an encumbrance to the tree but 
may communicate to other parts the causes of their ill condition. 
Heat and Light—The maintenance of strong bearing wood 
in the lower part of the tree is conditioned upon the proper prun- 
ing of the top of the tree. How far the upper levels or the 
shade-layer of the tree can be safely opened, depends upon the 
local climate in each fruit region. The rule must be the higher 
the summer heat the denser the tree; the lower the heat the thin- 
ner the tree; but everywhere the proper condition of openness 
must be constantly in view in pruning. Not alone must this be 
done to maiutain thrifty growth below, but it is also essential to 
the best growth and ripening of the fruit in the lower and interior 
parts of the tree. Fruit inferior in size, color and quality results, 
in part, from lack of pruning to regulate the admission of light 
and heat, sometimes one sometimes both, to the shaded portion 
of the tree. 
Bearing lV’ood.—Good fruit develops on good bearing wood 
and gocd bearing wood is the product of proper degrees of light 
and heat, as has just been urged. But bearing wood in the case 
of some fruits is new wood, and reduction of old wood for the 
purpose of forcing the growth of new wood must be constantly 
in mind. Renewal is more or less a consideration with all trees, 
and especially the securing of strong new wood. This is a point 
upon which close study of the bearing tree will yield most satis- 
factory suggestions. 
