274 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
therefore, less exposed surface that is 
subject to disease, injuries by accident, 
etc. 
2. There is less energy required to car- 
ry food from the root system to the top 
and from the top system to the root, and 
as the railroad man would say, there is 
less expense and less friction in the 
shorter haul. The trunk of a-tree is a 
circulatory system, a kind of common 
carrier that’ exchanges the products of 
one part of the tree for the products of 
another. 
3. There is no extra sap required for 
the support of a longer body, and there- 
fore the extra energy that would be re- 
quired to support the extra length of 
body goes into the branches: 
4. It is easier to pick the fruit from a 
tree with a low top than from one that 
is higher in the air. It is easier to prune 
and to spray. When the fruit falls from 
the top of a low tree it is less likely to 
damage and bruise in falling, and there- 
fore there is less waste. Our observa: 
tions lead us to the conclusion that the 
trees are almost always healthier, and 
this is shown in the fact that they grow 
more vigorously and produce more fruit. 
5. There is another reason in favor of 
low heading that is worthy of considera- 
tion, and that is, that trees are bent by 
force of the wind currents and the taller 
trees bend more than the lower ones. 
Often great damage is done in this way, 
especially to trees that are heavily loaded 
with fruit so that the center of gravity 
is beyond the base. Trees are sometimes 
broken in this way. Much less damage 
is done from this cause to trees with low 
tops. 
There are advantages on the other side, 
for experience teaches us that it is more 
difficult to cultivate among trees that 
have been headed low, but this can be 
largely obviated if care is taken in shap- 
ing the tops and in the choice of. tools 
for cultivation. In orchards that have 
been pruned with this in mind, it is about 
as.easy to cultivate around trees that 
are headed just above the ground as 
around others that are headed eighteen 
inches higher. 
Of course there is a difference in the 
Fig. 2. Orchard near Kennewick, Wash. 
Peaches in the Foreground. 
do much better if headed close to the ground. 
In windy sections trees 
