73. A three-year-old plum tree ready for pruning. 

 It has been headed-in twice, as can be seen. Do it 

 once more. Also tahe out one or two of the forKs 

 which the heading-in produces. "Thin out — head 

 bacK" is the rule for young trees 



74. The same tree after pruning. The number 

 of branches have been reduced, dangerous forKs 

 removed, and leaders headed-bacK. After this the 

 tree will not need to be headed-bacK each year, but 

 the branches should be thinned regularly every year 



75. " Heading-in thickens the top." It is usually 

 desirable to head-in young trees for two or three 

 years after planting; it maKes them stocKier. The 

 six scaffold limbs of this tree were headed-in two 

 years ago. Note how the top has thicKened 



Pruning the Home Orchard— By s. w. Fletcher 



"T RECKON I had better go out and trim 

 A up my fruit trees to-day. I haven't 

 trimmed them for three years, and they are 

 getting all choked up with wood." So re- 

 marked my neighbor from his porch one 

 gusty March morning, surveying the half- 

 dozen trees in his yards with the pride of 

 ownership. I saw him start out with saw 

 and ladder, and with the evident determina- 

 tion of atoning for past neglect by doing a 

 good job. A few hours later I was called out 

 to view his handiwork. He had certainly 

 "trimmed up" the trees literally; and he had 

 done a "good job" without doubt. A third 

 of the top of each tree was on the ground. 

 All the lower limbs had been removed. I 



76. Improperly (rained. The limbs start too close 

 together. The first big crop will split off some of them. 

 When pruning newly set trees. let the limbs be alter- 

 nate and not opposite. Be sure to paint the wounds 



expostulated. "You have pruned too heav- 

 ily. Next year you will have a big crop of 

 suckers and less fruit." But my neighbor 

 was satisfied with his job. He had trimmed 

 up the trees. Did not the pile of brush bear 

 witness to the thoroughness of his work? 



Photographs by the author 



My neighbor's pruning is like that of many 

 other home orchardists — well meant, but mis- 

 guided. It is not so much that people do 

 not prune enough, as that their pruning is not 

 wisely directed. Butcher pruning ruins as 

 many trees as the neglect of pruning. 



No two trees can be pruned exactly alike, 

 if they are pruned correctly. Pruning is a 

 matter of judgment, not of rule. No man 

 can tell you how vou should prune vour trees 

 without seeing them; that lies between your 

 own judgment and the condition of the trees. 

 Nevertheless, there are a few principles of 

 pruning which apply everywhere. The home 

 fruit grower, no matter where he lives, who 

 keeps these principles in mind, will not go 

 far astray in his pruning. 



The first rule is: Prune regularly and 

 lightly. The average home orchard is neg- 

 lected for two to four years ; then it is pruned 

 too heavily. 



The reason why the trees, after severe 

 pruning, make a verv vigorous growth of 

 • "ood and clothe the naked limbs with suckers, 

 is that Nature is trying to restore the balance 

 which the pruner upset. There is normally 

 a balance between the top of the tree and its 

 roots. There is only as much top as there 

 are roots to support it; the top is the ex- 

 pression of the roots. If, then, a tree loses 

 a third of its top by an ice storm or by cut- 

 throat pruning, the roots immediately en- 

 deavor to restore the equilibrium by pushing 

 out more top. Hence suckers and water- 

 sprouts. 



The important point about this to the home 

 fruit-grower is the fact that when the tree is 

 making such a strenuous effort to regain its 

 normal complement of top, it is likely to be 

 seriously reduced in fruit bearing. Trees 



64 



which "run to wood" are not usually fruitful. 

 Many a back yard fruit tree is unproductive 

 for no reason other than spasmodic and very 

 heavy pruning. The practical method, then, 

 is to prune regularly and lightly — a little 

 every year, not a great deal every three or 

 four years. Do not let your desire to do a 

 "good job" turn you into a tree barber. If 

 your trees seem to be growing too fast, the 

 very worst thing you could do is to cut out a 

 lot of that wood every winter — that only 

 aggravates the trouble, and the trees will 

 grow faster than ever. In these cases the 

 excessive growth must be checked by such 

 means as withholding fertilizers, ceasing 

 tillage, summer pruning, and — as a last 

 resort — girdling. But fruit trees do not often 

 grow too fast in the home garden. 



77. How to prune a tree set last spring. Thin out 

 weaK shoots; leave several of the strongest, and 

 head these bacK about a third. This tree was headed- 

 back in March. The picture shows it starting into 

 growth in May 



