300 
west of the Cascades and may be advan- 
tageously used with shy or tardy bearers 
anywhere. 
The Pruning of a Bearing Tree 
An old apple tree that is in full pearing 
should be carefully pruned every year, 
removing almost as much wood each year 
as it produced the preceding year. Care 
should be exercised to keep the top open, 
balanced, free from crossing or rubbing 
limbs and from getting too high. A top 
can be lowered or raised at will if the 
pruner will study his branches. Always 
cut back to a branch, and never leave a 
long stub unless water sprouts are desired. 
If the tree has been neglected for years, 
remove the superfluous wood by degrees 
about one-third of the total amount to be 
removed each spring and summer until 
the desired top is reached. Pruning is a 
matter of common sense and should be 
practiced as such. The young tree is elas- 
tic and can be easily shaped while the old 
tree is established and must be compelled 
by severe methods. 
W. S. THORNBER, 
Lewiston, Idaho. 
Location of Fruit Buds 
A knowledge of how and where fruit 
buds are formed is very necessary to the 
best results in pruning as the ultimate 
object of pruning is to produce fruit. The 
best way to learn where the buds are pro- 
duced on trees is to examine trees in an 
orchard under the direction of some one 
who can explain the difference between 
leaf buds and fruit buds. We can point 
out where they are to be found, thus mak- 
ing it possible for one not acquainted with 
the different buds on trees to distinguish 
between them when a competent instruct- 
or is not available. 
On apple and pear trees the fruit buds 
are found on the ends of short spurs which 
are one or more years old. The terminal 
growth of these spurs is produced from 
the topmost lateral bud which often 
causes the spur to be more or less zigzag 
in shape. When the fruit spur is making 
terminal growth it usually will not at 
that time produce fruit nor will a fruit 
bud generally be formed on a fruit 
spur the same season that fruit is pro- 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
duced. It follows, then, that fiuit spurs 
on apples or pears will as a rule bear 
only in alternate years. The leaf buds 
are both terminal and lateral, the flower 
bud always terminal. Flower buds may 
be distinguished from leaf buds by being 
somewhat larger, with a point that is 
blunt or rounded, while the leaf buds are 
smaller with a sharper point. The fruit 
buds of cherries and most plums are pro- 
duced much the same as those of apples, 
except that the buds are often in clusters 
and are sometimes lateral on short spurs 
The fruit buds on peach trees are lat- 
eral and are not found on fruit spurs, the 
buds usually being formed in the avxils 
or leaves on the current year’s growth. 
In pruning peach trees the tree should he 
pruned in such a way that a liberal sup- 
ply of new wood is made each year, while 
in apples, pears, plums and cherries the 
production of new wood is not so neces- 
sary, as the fruit spurs on these will con- 
tinue to bear for a number of years. The 
fruit buds on currants and gooseberries 
are formed much the same way as on 
apples. They are not productive for as 
long a period, however, and require such 
pruning as will produce new spurs every 
three or four years. The fruit buds on 
raspberries, blackberries, dew berries, etc, 
are formed the same season that the fruit 
is produced, the fruit buds being formed 
on the ends of the shoots which grow 
from lateral buds on the main stem the 
same season that the fruit is ripened. 
R. W. Fisuer, 
Bozeman, Mont 
Tree Support by Intertwining Branches 
A. method of supporting the branches 
of a tree, without propping, has been tried 
and found to possess considerable merit. 
It is a method of wrapping, or twisting 
together small branches projecting from 
the main limbs. These branches point in 
different directions, and tend therefore to 
meet and to grow beyond each other. This 
makes it possible to intertwine them, by 
which process they tend to grow together 
and to become permanently attached. Be- 
coming permanently attached, they grow 
with the growth of the tree and become 
permanent supports completely binding 
