and broken or dying limbs. Young trees of most fruits require little 

 pruning before they come into bearing. Pruning of fruit trees in gen- 

 eral should be done during the dormant season, preferably in the 

 spring after danger of severe winter freezing is past but before growth 

 has started. 



If the vine growth of bunch grapes is rather weak during the first 

 growing season, it is advisable to cut the vine back at the end of the 

 season to one or two buds and to train up a strong trunk during the 

 second growing season. If the vine is to be trained to a two-wire sys- 

 tem, tie it to a stake and let it grow upright until it reaches the top 

 wire. At that point pinch it off and lead out a lateral in each direction 

 along the wire. During the second season, lateral canes will grow from 

 all the buds along the trunk. Select two of these at the height of the 

 first wire above the ground and tie them to that wire to develop fruit- 

 ing wood. Rub off or pinch back the other branches along the trunk 

 during the growing season. A vine can be trained to a fence in much 

 the same manner. 



Prune while the vines are in a dormant condition. As the fruit is 

 borne on shoots from the canes of the previous season's growth, it is 

 important that enough new wood be saved to provide for the next 

 summer's crop. "With healthy, vigorous vines, from 50 to 60 buds 

 will produce as much fruit as the vine can mature properly. More 

 wood may be left on vines for home production, provided sufficient 

 space is available for the vine to develop. With vigorous vines, leav- 

 ing more wood may result in a greater total quantity of fruit, but the 

 individual bunches may be inferior in size and the fruit of poorer 

 quality. 



Vines of muscadine grapes are pruned somewhat differently. With 

 these the canes trained on the wires serve as permanent arms, and the 

 new growth is pruned so as to leave fruiting spurs 6 to 8 inches long. 

 Such spurs should be evenly distributed along the arm and so spaced 

 as to allow free development of new shoots. Remove all excess wood. 



Except in the mountain region remove all the canes from black- 

 berries, both old and new, after the fruit has been picked. New canes 

 will then develop strong growth to produce fruit for the following 

 season. In the western part of North Carolina and South Carolina, in 

 northern Georgia, and in Tennessee the season is not long enough for 

 strong new canes to grow. There, just the old canes that have fruited 

 should be cut out after the fruit has been picked. The new canes of 

 trailing blackberries are left till the following spring, when they are 

 tied in a spiral to stakes about 6 feet above ground. Winter pruning 

 of the blackberry consists in cutting back lateral branches to about 

 12 inches. Old canes of raspberries are also removed after the fruit 

 is picked. New shoots of black varieties are pinched or cut off at 12 

 to 18 inches in height, and the following winter the branches are 

 pruned to 12 inches in length. Red raspberry canes are not usually 

 pruned back. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1958 O — 474677 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office 

 Washington 25, D. C. - Price 5 cents 



