274 The Commercial Apple Industry 



Crossing and interfering branches should be removed. 

 If too many long parallel limbs have developed, part of 

 them should be taken out in order to allow the remainder 

 freer development. Two limbs which emerge from a com- 

 mon point usually result in a weak crotch, a condition 

 which can be overcome by unequal cutting, i. e. cutting one 

 limb heavier than the other. 



Bearing trees. 



A tree that has been handled properly up to the bearing 

 age, that has its framework well established, and its fruit- 

 ing machinery well distributed, will require little subse- 

 quent annual pruning. As previously described, the treat- 

 ment of a bearing tree, whatever the type, will consist 

 largely in thinning out the new growth near the tops or 

 outer parts of limbs to allow a good circulation of sunlight 

 and air. Wayward and crossing branches should be 

 checked or removed. 



Gardner, of the Missouri Experimental Station, likens 

 the fruit-spur to a factory. He refers to the spurs as 

 little machines. The raw materials from which fruit is 

 produced come from the soil and air and are manufactured 

 into a finished product by the leaves through the aid of 

 sunlight. The latter is classed as the cheapest, most 

 abundant and yet most valuable form of motive power. 

 The performance of every spur is dependent on a certain 

 amount of sunlight. (See Plate XVII.) 



Each individual spur relies on its own leaves for the 

 manufacture of the starches and sugars which it uses. 

 It cannot draw on other nearby spurs or on other parts 

 of the tree for maintenance. As the manufacture of food 

 materials is absolutely dependent on light, the production 



