224 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



wood tends to become excessive. Not much fruit should 

 be looked for until about the fourth year. 



178. Best height for peach tree head.*— There is considerable 

 \ariatinn in the rccuniniendati'ins and suggestions of various au- 

 thorities as to the proper 



Fin. 1S9 

 NEGLECT FOLLOWING DEHORNING 

 Fnnr years a'^o this old Italian Prime tree 

 \^as "dehortied" for renovation. Little or no 

 pruning has been done since. Last year the 

 tree bore a small crop of prunes on spurs 

 that had de\'cloped on the water sprouts stimu- 

 lated by the dehorning. There is promise of 

 a medium crop this year; but the newly 

 formed spurs in the lower part of the tree are 

 already declining because of too much shade. 

 To keep them from cettinK long and willowy, 

 and Finally dying, considerable thinning out is 

 necessary. Heading back which would stimu- 

 late the formation of more water sproiJts 

 would increase the trouble. Compare with 

 Figs. 30, 31, ISn, 1.^9, 161, 1fi5, lfil=i and the 

 explanations accompanying them. 



* Paragraphs 17.H to 1,S6 condensed from M. A. Blake's Bulletin (293) of the 

 New Jersey Experiment Station. 



method or degree of prun- 

 ing pcacli trees at the time 

 of planting. .A eommon 

 recommendation is to cut 

 the trees back to a height of 

 from IS to ;;4 inclies regard- 

 less of grade. Some recom- 

 mend cutting back the 

 trunks to 6 inches and 

 others even 30 inches. These 

 suggestions are apparently 

 based on some ideal with 

 respect to the height at 

 which the indi\idual prefers 

 to have the Iiranchcs form. 

 Tn orrler to secure a rela- 

 tively low-headed tree, one 

 must cut liack the trunk of 

 the nursery tree rather 

 se\'erely at planting time tn 

 make it branch low. This 

 has led some to believe that 

 the more severely the tree 

 is cut back the lower the 

 head will be; and that hence 

 spraying and picking the 

 fruit may be performed 

 more easily. But the mere 

 cutting back of the trunk 

 to a low point does not nec- 

 essarily mean that the fruit 

 may be picked more easily 

 or the tree sprayed more 

 economically than from one 

 whose head is formed sev- 

 eral inches higher (big. 

 72). For example, some 

 fruit growers cut the trees 

 back to a six-inch stub at 

 the time of planting and 

 then proceed to remove all 

 side branches that form on 



