HIGH OR LOW HEADS FOR APPLE TREES. 37 
one sort of top can be kept as symmetrical and as open 
to light as another. Half the difficulties of pruning are 
done away with when one decides to let the top take its 
natural form. If oneattempts to shape his trees to some 
model he will be liable to constant disappointment and 
exasperation. He will find many trees stubbornly con- 
trary. He will cut and train and worry for a few years, 
and find in the end that the tree has the mastery. 
CHAPTER X. 
HIGH OR LOW HEADS FOR APPLE TREES. 
This subject is entirely unworthy the controversy it 
has occasioned. Extremes in orcharding are as obnox- 
ious as in other pursuits. It is evident that a top which 
rests upon the ground is a nuisance, and equally evident 
that one which is trained up beyond reach is scarcely less 
so. The head must be high enough to allow a team to 
work under it, and it must be easy of access for a 
man and basket. With a properly trained team it is not 
necessary that the limbs be much above their backs. It 
is a good rule to start the top high enough to clear a 
horse. At such a height, if properly pruned, the top 
should be easy of access. 
It is an erroneous notion that a low top is the easier 
to pick from and to prune. It is easier to climb into a 
tree than it is to crawl under it and into it, with no room 
for standing up under it. It is also a mistake to suppose 
that low trees hold their apples better during winds. 
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