trees are once established will be to keep them in health 

 and good form. 



PLUM : Little pruning is required ; the trees may be 

 set closer together however, if they are headed back 

 each year. A third to a half or more of the season's 

 growth may be removed with little or no effect on the 

 amount of fruit that will be produced the next season, 

 and the trees, of course, will have a much more regular 

 form. 



QUINCE: Quinces on good soil make vigorous 

 growth and the older wood should be kept thinned out 

 every one or two years. Avoid cutting back all new 

 growth at one time, however, as the result will be little 

 fruit. 



PRUNING DWARF and TRAINED FRUITS: 

 The amount of space available and other local con- 

 ditions will determine whether you want to grow the 

 trees in their regular form or train them near a wall or 

 upon a trellis. In the latter case, the growth is induced 

 to take a lateral form, as far as possible. Even with 

 dwarfs the results will depend very largely upon the 

 thoroughness with which the pruning is done, especially 

 in the early stages of growth. To induce pyramidal 

 form of growth, which is usually the best for dwarf 

 trees it is necessary to cut back the main shoots or 

 "leaders" quite low down thus inducing the more vig- 

 orous growth of the side branches, and leaving the tree 

 at first with an open center. At the time of planting 

 they should be shortened back about one-third in the 

 usual way, and as soon as they become established the 

 centers should be cut back to a height of ten to twenty 

 inches. If vigorous growth is made, these side branches 

 should be headed in, leaving four or five shoots on each. 

 These will, of course, tend to an upright position in 

 making their growth. The following spring these shoots 

 should be cut back severely — ^half will not be too much 

 if they have made a vigorous growth — and in case they 

 should be too thick remove some of the side branches 

 from which they sprout. This severe pruning should be 

 continued for three or four years and the shoots should 

 be gone over annually, early in the summer. All branches 

 that crowd or cross should be cut out, and all those 



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