104 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
be started. One can generalize to this extent: The heads of varieties with 
spreading tops should be started higher than those having an upright or 
pyramidal top. Without question, the choice should be for a low-headed 
pear-tree. The trunks of pear-trees suffer terribly from blight and sun- 
scald. The less trunk and the more it is shaded by branches, the less the 
tree suffers from these two troubles. Also, low trees are more easily sprayed 
and pruned; the crop is more easily thinned and harvested; crop and tree 
are less subject to injury by frost; the top is more quickly formed; and a 
low-headed tree bears fruit soonest. By low-headed is meant a distance 
from the ground to the first limb of two feet. 
Two shapes of tops are open to choice — the open-centered and the 
close-centered. In the open-centered, or vase-form top, the tree consists 
of a short trunk, surmounted by four or five main branches ascending 
obliquely. In the close-centered top, the trunk is continued above the 
lower branches and forms the center of the tree. The close-centered pear- 
tree produces more fruit and is most easily kept to its shape. No doubt it 
is best for most varieties. The open-centered tree, with its framework of 
several main branches, has the advantage when trees are attacked by blight, 
since if one or two branches are destroyed by the disease a part of the tree 
may still be saved. The head should never be formed by two central 
leaders forming a crotch, as the trunk is liable to split and ruin the tree. 
For several years after planting, the pear needs to be pruned only to 
train the tree to the height of head determined upon and to form the top. 
Exceptions are the sorts which produce few branches and thus form straggling 
heads. This defect is overcome by cutting back some of the branches in 
the spring, an operation which increases the number of branches. A few 
other sorts, as Winter Nelis and White Doyenné, have drooping, twisting, 
wayward branches which can be trained into manageable shape only by 
cutting back or tying the branches in place. Pear-growers as a rule prune 
young trees too much. Over-pruning increases the growth of wood and 
leaf too greatly, and thus delays the fruiting of the plant. A good deal 
might be said about the use and abuse of heading-in pears — that is, cutting 
back the terminal growths from year to year. Dwarf pears must be 
headed-in severely to keep the trees down, but standard trees should be 
headed-in only to make the tops thicker and broader — a desirable procedure 
with some varieties. 
Old trees often need to be pruned to increase their vigor. Such pruning 
is often spoken of as pruning for wood. When the tops of pear-trees have 
