1638 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Wrong Form of Pear Tree. The central leader 

 renders it diflScult to eradicate or control 

 blight. The open head is the proper type of 

 tree. (Original.) 



Proper Shape of Tree 



The whole subject of pruning is such 

 a lengthy one that it can scarcely be 

 gone into in full detail. However, the 

 vase-formed tree, headed low and with 

 the main branches shortened in to 18 

 inches or less, is decidedly the most de- 

 sirable form to grow a tree. Up to the 

 third year the main forks or leaders 

 should be shortened in so as to make a 

 tree with sturdy framework, and at the 

 same time keep it down low so as to be 

 accessible for spraying, picking fruit, 

 etc. If the water-sprouts are kept off 

 the body and main limbs, and if lateral 

 fruit branches are developed within the 

 fruiting area, the most desirable form of 

 tree will be produced for controlling the 

 blight. A tree pruned to this form, even 

 if infected, has its blossoms well away 

 from the vulnerable parts of the tree, 

 namely, the body and framework. The 

 tall pyramid, with a single main leader 

 and with its long branches covered with 

 fruit spurs and water-sprouts, makes the 



work of fighting pear blight a difficult 

 one. It is hard to get into the top of the 

 tree with this closed center to find out 

 what is going on, and, besides, the fruit 

 spurs and water-sprouts being close to 

 the body as well as upon it, readily carry 

 the blight in, usually resulting in the 

 entire loss of the main portion, if not 

 the entire tree. One only need look 

 around where the pyramidal or central- 

 leader type is grown, and it will be seen 

 that an infection on the body resulting 

 in a girdling of it necessitates the re- 

 moval of the entire center above the 

 point of infection; thus removing prac- 

 tically the heart of the tree's growth. 

 Any of the limbs left below the point of 

 infection are usually long and slender, 

 and, besides, are usually poorly placed 

 to form a good tree of any sort there- 

 after. The prevailing type of Bartlett 

 tree in California is very near the de- 

 sirable form; however, in many cases, 

 after heading back the trees, they are 

 allowed to grow three or four years and 

 then reheaded several feet from the 

 crown, sometimes as high as 15 feet, 

 resulting in a two-story pear tree. In 

 very few cases has there been any at- 

 tempt to keep the fruit off the main 

 framework branches, and to keep the 

 water-sprouts and fruit spurs from the 

 bodies and roots. There has been no 

 special occasion for forking at the frame- 

 work, since at the time the trees were 

 being formed pear blight had not made 

 its entrance into the California orchards. 

 Among many growers, especially those 

 of the old school, we find that there is 

 a tendency to adhere to the pyramid 

 form of tree in practically all varieties 

 grown, even the Bartlett. We readily 

 understand why this has been the case, 

 because the pioneer fruit growers recog- 

 nized this form of tree as being, perhaps, 

 the easiest to prune and undoubtedly the 

 easiest to keep from breaking down 

 when heavily loaded with fruit. Their 

 weak attempts at forming the open- 

 headed tree were failures because dur- 

 ing the first two or three years of growth 

 they neglected to shorten it enough. 

 Even today this is the common error; it 



