APPLES 
tempt should be made to make all vail 
eties conform to a given type, like trees 
in a hedge In general, limbs which are 
parallel and close together, or limbs which 
eross and intertere with each other, 
should be 1emoved or thinned Tuees of 
an upright habit, like Sutton or Maiden 
Blush, should have the center of the top 
opened, while trees of a spreading habit, 
iihe Jonathan or Rhode Island Greening, 
should have the lower limbs removed 
To keep the trees within bounds, the 
leading branches may be cut back one to 
three feet about every other year until 
the bearing age is reached; after which 
the production of fruit should sufficiently 
check superfluous growth of wood. 
The question of high heads or of low 
heads is a perennial one In general, 
however, the tendency at the present time 
is to maintain as low heads as is consis- 
tent with cultivation. The ideal tree is 
vase-formed, the lower branches starting 
about two and one-half feet from the 
eround, and ascending in such a manner 
as to permit of reasonably close approach 
to the tree in cultivating. This may be 
accomplished by cutting off those limbs 
which tend to grow out horizontally or 
which hang from the lower side of the 
leaders. 
Why Pruning Is Important 
It is astonishing to find how little the 
average orchardist thinks, when pruning 
his trees, of the actual problems at issue. 
Pruned trees are almost always more vig- 
orous than unpruned ones, because the 
food taken up by the roots is concentrated 
into a smaller number of branches. 
Pruning is practiced to produce larger 
and better fruit; to keep the plant within 
manageable limits: to remove superfluous 
or injurious parts; to facilitate spraying, 
tillage and harvesting; to train the plant 
to some desired form. 
Plants naturally grow from the upper- 
most buds. By pruning in one way this 
tendency is augmented, in another way 
it is checked. As a rule, in dealing with 
fruit trees, the latter end is desired, since 
the principle that “checking growth in- 
duces fruitfulness” is universally recog- 
nized. The heading in of young growths 
295 
tends to develop lateral and dormant buds, 
or to thicken the top, so the question of 
heading resolves itself into a question of 
personal ideals. To secure thick topped 
trees, heading is necessary. It has, how- 
ever, the velv marked advantage of in- 
ducing the development of fruit buds near 
the body of the tree, rather than far out 
on the limbs. This, in the case of plums 
and other tender wooded plants, is an 
important consideration. 
Fruit bearing is determined more by 
the habit and condition of the tree, than 
by the extent of pruning. In other words, 
it is to a certain extent an individual 
characteristic. Pruning, however, may be 
made a means of thinning the fruit, and 
thus improving the size and quality of 
that which remains by removing super- 
fluous shoots upon which fruit buds are 
borne. Heading back the annual growth 
thins peaches; but with the apple, pear 
and plum, which produce fruit on spurs 
or miniature branches, on wood of more 
than one season’s growth, older limbs 
must, of course, be removed in order to 
effect the desired thinning. 
W. M. Munson, 
Morgantown, W. Va. 
Opinions of L. C. Corbett 
In pruning a fruit bearing plant like 
the apple, attention must be given not 
only to the height and formation of the 
head, but to the removal of wood as well. 
The apple bears fruit on spurs which are 
developed from wood one year old or 
more. For that reason, therefore, the re- 
moval of wood which carries fruit spurs 
reduces the crop the tree is capable of 
bearing. This, then, is a practicable way 
of thinning the fruit. Besides accom- 
plishing this result pruning can be used 
to lessen the annual growth and force 
the energy of the plant which would nat- 
urally be used in making wood into fruit, 
thus increasing its size or enabling the 
tree to carry a larger quantity than 
would be possible were a normal wood 
growth permitted. 
Forming the Head 
Modern orchardists have come to look 
upon the low-headed tree as more desir- 
