PRUNING MATURE TREES 



245 



will not be necessary to do much of this because the rules 

 given above will have done enough thinning. 



9. Branches that threaten to form Y crotches should 

 be handled as already indicated (127). 



10. Should a neglected orchard need very severe prun- 

 ing to bring it back to shape, it will usually be an ad- 

 \antage to do the v.'ork in the winter preceding a full 

 crop year. 



19-1. Pruning to remedy winter injury. — Pruning experiments 

 were undertaken by William Stuart* with a view of bettering the 

 condition of some winter-injured trees. These were inaugurated 

 in early June in an orchard where a number of eight-year-old 

 Rhode Island Greening trees were severely injured. Some of the 

 trees were severely pruned back after the secondary buds had 

 pushed out new growths, others were somewhat less vigorously 

 handled, while yet others were left untouched. It was thought that 

 the severe prunuig of trees on which new growths were being 

 pushed out at the base of the limbs would tend to throw all the 

 strength of the tree into a few 

 branches, thereby securing dur- 

 ing the first season a much more 

 vigorous development as well as 

 a much more shapely head. 



Photographs were made of 

 the injured trees both before 

 and after pruning June 9, again 

 on August l.'J of the same sea- 

 son, and a final set September 

 27 of the following season. A 

 careful study of these affords 

 little evidence that pruning was 

 beneficial. A comparison of one 

 set would show a decided ad- 

 vantage in favor of pruning, 

 while that of another set would 

 be equally favorable to the un- 

 pruned. \\'hile no very sweep- 

 ing conclusions can be formed 

 from a single experiment, con- 

 ducted on a rather small scale and 

 under unfavorable conditions, 

 this much at least may be said: 



* V3rnionf ExTerinient Station An- 

 nual Report, 1901. 



FIG. 205.— WINTER INJURED RHODE 

 ISI AND GREENING APPLE TREE 

 BEFORE PRUNING IN EARLY 

 JUNE. NOTICE EXTENT OF 

 DAMAGE. 



