116 Best Form of Tree. 
Sige of Frisit.—The size of fruit, providing the tree is healthy 
and vigorous, depends upon the character and amount of bearing 
wood which the tree is allowed to carry. Removal of part of 
the fruit burden is done by thinning after it is well set, but this 
labor should always be minimized by antecedent pruning, which 
adjusts the retention of bearing wood according to the vigor, 
size and bearing habit of the tree. Thinning out of bearing 
shoots and spurs, when either are clearly seen to be in excess, 
should be the constant study of the pruner. 
Regular Bearing.—This point is largely involved in the pre- 
ceding and affords an additional incentive. Regulating the 
amount of fruit borne in one year involves the profit of two years, 
because a tree can not produce an excessive amount of fruit and 
perfect good fruit buds for the following year. It may generally 
make buds which will bloom, but not always that. If it does 
make the bloom, it is no guaranty that the bloom will be strong 
and effective for bearing. Consequently, pruning for reasonab'e 
amount of bearing should always be borne in view and should 
be practised at the close of the year of non-bearing with particular 
diligence, if the alternate year bearing habit is to be broken up. 
The foregoing are among the practical purposes to be served 
in pruning. There are others, but these will suffice to emphasize 
a single point, and that is, that pruning can not be compressed 
into a single formula, nor can one learn it by a recipe. There 
are various ends to attain; they may be attained in different ways, 
although it is not strange that substantial agreement in methods 
does largely prevail. It is better to try to understand the pur- 
poses than to memorize formule. Get the tree and its interest 
clearly in the mind; have an ideal toward which to work; be 
more interested in why a neighbor prunes in a certain way than 
how he does it. Learn constantly by all available means, and 
at the same time study the visible forms and aim to understand 
their fullest significance. 
FORM OF TREE BEST SUITED TO CALIFORNIA CONDITIONS. 
The form of deciduous fruit tree which prevails with singu- 
lar uniformity all over the State is the “vase,” or “goblet,” or 
wine-glass” form, all these terms signifying a similar general 
shape. There are different ways in which this form is secured 
and maintained in different parts of the State, and with different 
fruits, which will be especially noted in the chapters devoted to 
these fruits. 
The mainspring of success in California is to grow low trees. 
Low is a term admitting of degrees, it is true, and may imply a 
trunk six inches up to one of two feet, in the clear. In addition 
to the general advantages of low-trained trees, which have been 
