APPLES 277 
that mature their wood sufficiently so 
that they are not in general killed by the 
winter freezing. These branches are 
started for the growth of the coming sea- 
son and the sap which would go to pro- 
mote the growth of longer shoots that 
would be cut off the following spring is 
thrown into the new branches, many of 
which will be left the next year, and in 
this manner three years of wood growth, 
it is believed, can be obtained in two 
years of this kind of pruning. 
At this point, however, there is some 
controversy and the theory is not uni- 
versallvy accepted. 
Seventh. When a tree is being trans- 
planted the tops should be cut back at 
least far enough to correspond with the 
root pruning necessary in removing from 
the nursery and setting in the orchard. 
In the dry climates this cannot be too 
strongly emphasized, because the dry air 
tends to rapidly absorb the sap from the 
young leaves and branches and if there 
is too much top surface exposed to the 
dry atmosphere it draws too heavily on 
the root system which has not yet suffici- 
ently thrown out tender rootlets to ab- 
sorb sufficient food and moisture. 
Eighth Branches are removed when 
they are so low as to interfere with prop- 
er cultivation. 
Ninth. Branches are removed when 
they are so high that it is inconvenient 
to pick the fruit. 
Tenth. Heavy pruning is often re- 
sorted to when trees are planted so close 
together that their branches interfere with 
each other. 
Eleventh. The proper time for winter 
pruning is during the dormant period, 
somewhere between the dropping of the 
leaves in the early winter and before the 
opening of spring. It is not well to prune 
when the wood is frozen, as that seems 
to injure the tree. The time for summer 
pruning depends a good deal on the lati- 
tude. In most countries where apples 
are grown perhaps about the first of July 
would be the preferable time. 
Twelfth. Trees that tend to head in- 
ward, or toward the center, should have 
the intertwining branches cut away to 
give them a more spreading top. 
Thirteenth Trees that tend naturally 
to produce overhanging boughs or spread- 
ing tops should be pruned from the out- 
side more than from the inside 
Fourteenth In pruning, care should 
be observed in distinguishing between 
fruit spurs and small limbs that protrude 
from the branches. In cutting away 
fruit spurs we destroy the possibility of 
producing fruit 
A summary of these rules would be 
about as follows: 
Remove branches to invigorate other 
branches; remove branches that interfere 
with the growth of more important 
branches; remove branches that give the 
tree an undesirable shape, remove 
branches that pull the top in the wrong 
direction; remove branches that are dis- 
eased: remove enough of the top to cor- 
respond with the root; remove branches 
that interfere with cultivation, remove 
branches that are too high for the con- 
venient gathering of fruit; prune any 
time when the tree is dormant and the 
wood is not frozen; do not cut away the 
fruit spurs. 
Photographs of Trees Headed Both High 
and Low 
In the orchard of the Editor, North 
Yakima, Washington, were a number of 
trees, to which we have referred, 
which, when young, were damaged by 
rabbits. The owner at that time had to 
decide between cutting them off at or 
near the ground or digging them up in 
order to plant new trees. He decided to 
cut them off The trees are now sixteen 
years old. On April 4, 1912, photographs 
were taken and measurements made in 
order to determine the comparative size 
of these trees with others in the same 
row, same varieties, same age, and the 
same conditions as nearly as two trees 
growing twenty feet apart can be said to 
grow under the same conditions. We 
might have selected a number of other 
trees that would give about the same re- 
sults, but these were believed to be suf- 
ficient to illustrate the facts and prin- 
ciples involved. 
